She's My Parabatai
by Jkalime
Summary: Clary and Izzy are parabatai. They've grown up together, had each other's backs since forever. Then, everything changes when Clary's father is killed. Clary comes to live with her parabatai at the Institute. With the downworlder population on the brink of war and a killer lurking in the shadows the girls' bond will be put to the test. Can it survive? Or will it come crumbling down?
1. Chapter 1

I was furious, and lost. The place was a maze and I didn't think I would ever find my way to my room or anywhere else for that matter.

My mother had just told me that the incompetent shadowhunters that were helping us move had somehow misplaced the majority of our belongings. How did that even happen?

I groaned as I turned another corner and ended up in a hallway I had been in five minutes ago.

"Are you lost?" An amused voice asked. Just my luck. I turned to notice a blond boy leaning in the doorway of one of the rooms.

"I'm fine," I lied and started to walk past him down the hallway.

"You've walked this hallway three times now," he kept talking as I kept walking. He grabbed my arm. "Just admit it, Clarissa, you're lost."

I pulled my arm from his grasp. "It's Clary," I told him. No one called me Clarissa, not anymore. "And I'm not lost!" Sure, I wanted to get back to my room and unpack the small amount of belongings I actually had at the moment but I wasn't desperate enough to let Jace Herondale be the one who led me there. "Even if I was I sure as hell don't need your help, Jonathan."

Jace narrowed his eyes but before he could bark back some snarky comment, a voice sounded from the end of the hall.

"Clary! There you are!" I turned to the dark haired girl making her way towards us.

"I don't appreciate you telling people how much I hate my name, Isabelle," Jace groaned, annoyed.

"Yeah, well I don't appreciate you trying to hook up with my parabatai either," Izzy retorted back.

"I was only trying to help her make sense of the institute." Jace shrugged.

Izzy rolled her eyes. "Whatever, come on, Clary." I was glad when she pulled me away from the Herondale. I had only met him about three times previously, but that had been more than enough to instill a fierce hatred within me.

"Okay," Izzy started talking again as we reached my room. "Did Jace really rile you up that much? I can feel your anger pulsing through our bond."

Izzy and I were parabatai. Our relationship transcended friendship, even sisterhood. She meant more to me than anyone. We were bonded together for life.

"Jace is already an afterthought," I told her. "My mom told me that our belongings were misplaced. Everything's gone! All I have is what's with me in my backpack."

My parabatai was silent for a moment before breaking out in laughter. "Only you, Clary. This would only happen to you." I crossed my arms and glared at her. This wasn't funny. "Okay fine, I'll let you borrow some of my clothes."

"Thanks, Izzy." I didn't particularly want to wear Izzy's clothes. They weren't really my style but it was better than nothing.

"What are parabatai for?" She smiled before entering her room which was right across the hall from mine.

I turned and went into my own room. I dumped the contents of my backpack onto my bed. There were only a measly amount of belongs. My stele, drawing pad and pencils, one seraph blade, and other useless odds and ends. Then, under my drawing pad I found a picture frame.

The picture was of a happy family of four, taken not more than two months ago. I felt tears welling in my eyes and I stared at my father.

"Clary?" Izzy's voice questioned from the doorway. I hastily set the picture frame down on the bedside table and used my hand to wipe the tears from my eyes.

"Yeah?" I replied looking at her. She was holding a dress in one hand. Izzy made her way over to be and threw the dress on the bed before pulling me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Clary," she said. "I can't imagine what you're going through." She had said the same exact words to me a week ago at the funeral.

I pulled away. "I don't even know why I'm so upset. It's not like he was even around that much. He was always out training Shadowhunters. And when he was around he trained Sebastian. He never gave me the time of day."

"But he was still your father, Clary," Izzy told me. "You're allowed to be sad."

I sighed. "I've been sad for long enough." I picked up the dress she had thrown on the bed. "What's this for?"

"Magnus Bane is throwing a party; we've been invited."

"Why is he inviting us to a downworlder party?" I questioned.

"Beats me but when the High Warlock of Brooklyn gives you an invite, it's best not to question and just attend." Izzy shrugged. "But put that on, you'll look stunning."

I sighed picking up the dress and walking into the bathroom. I heard Izzy yelling something about us being parabatai and that I could get changed in front of her but I didn't care. I still liked to have my privacy.

I put the dress on and stared at myself in the mirror. Oh hell no.

"Izzy!" I shouted, barging out of the bathroom. "There is no way I can wear this!" It was very short, tight, and revealing. I didn't wear things like this.

"Sure you can! You look amazing," Izzy told me steering me to sit on the bed and she attempted to apply make up to my face.

"Izzy!"

"Fine, the natural look looks good on you anyway," Izzy told me. "Do something with your hair! Don't leave it a tangled mess! I have to go get dressed," she shouted leaving my room.

•••

Alec sighed, "Izzy what did you do to Clary?"

"What? She looks amazing, doesn't she?"

"She's your parabatai, Izzy, not your doll," the dark haired girl's brother said.

"We're going to a party Alec!" Izzy said. "We have to look our best."

"No," a firm voice said, entering the room. "You are absolutely not wearing that, Clary."

"Seriously Sebastian?" Izzy sighed. "You should be happy with how sexy she looks."

"Izzy! God, stop it! I don't want to envision my little sister like that!"

"What? I just meant maybe she'll finally get a boyfrie-"

"Izzy!" I didn't really want the entire institute knowing I've never had a boyfriend especially not-

"You've never had a boyfriend?" Jace said, walking into the room. "Poor little virgin shadowhunter."

I wanted to throttle him. But Sebastian beat me to it as he punched Jace in the face. Alec quickly stepped between them before anymore blows could be thrown. "Calm the hell down! We're already late. Let's go."

•••

"Well...here goes nothing," Alec said as he knocked on the warlock's door. It swung open revealing a man with yellow cat eyes.

"Hello! And welcome to Chairman Meow's birthday party-" he stopped himself realising who we were. "Shadowhunters. Lovely, you couldn't have looked less like a shadowhunter?" He signed and produced a bucket out of midair. "Weapons in the bucket. Can't have you killing my guests, can I?" I deposited my seraph blade inside as everyone else did the same.

"Herondale," Magnus said. "I know that's not it." Jace pulled a knife from his boot. "All you Herondales are the same." The bucket vanished. "You'll get your precious killing instruments back after the party." He stepped out of the way and ushered us inside.

"Why did you call us here, warlock?" I questioned, getting straight to the point. I wanted to go back to the Institute and get out of the dress as soon as possible. Some of the vampires were already staring at me like I was their next meal.

Magnus turned to me with curiosity. "And who might you be? I knew of the Lightwoods and the Herondale but not of you... Morgensterns." He must have noticed the family ring Sebastian was wearing. "No matter. There is a particular vampire who wishes to speak with you. His name is Simon. He's around here somewhere I'm sure." And with that the High Warlock of Brooklyn whisked away into the party.

"Split up and find the vampire," Alec ordered. He went off with his parabatai while I went off with mine. Sebastian went on his own.

"Trying to find one specific vampire here is like trying to find a needle in a haystack," I told Izzy.

"Were you looking for me?" A voice said from behind me. Izzy and I both whirled around to face a brown haired vampire. "Simon, the pleasure is mine."

"Isabelle, but my friends call me Izzy." Oh no she had that look in her eyes. "And Clary."

"Izzy, Clary," Simon let the names roll off his tongue. "We should take this to a quieter part of the party, don't you think?"

We ended up in a bedroom. There was glitter everywhere. "What did you want, vampire?" I asked shortly.

"My, no need to be so salty, Clary." Simon grinned. I could see his fangs. "But I'll get to it. I represent some very powerful vampires and they're rather angry about you shadowhunters killing off their fledglings."

"Well they must have been breaking the Accords otherwise we have no reason to harm them," Izzy told the vampire.

"But they weren't breaking the Accords that's what has my Masters so riled up," Simon informed us. "It's your trigger happy Ascended Shadowhunters. They see a downworlder, they kill said downworlder." The Ascended. That was the New York Institute's main function: training Ascended for Insitute life, or life outside of Idris.

Simon had began walking closer to us. He stopped in between us. "I suggest someone reel in the Ascended. Otherwise my Masters have no issue in killing a few. Have you ever tasted Shadowhunter blood? It is to die for." He licked his fangs before strolling out of the room.

I tugged on my parabatai's arm, she was still staring in the direction the vampire had left. "Come on, let's go find the others so we can get out of here."

Izzy followed after me but that didn't stop her from making a remark in Izzy style: "He was kinda vamp hot don't you think?"

•••

When we arrived back at the Institute Alec and Izzy went to talk to their mother and father - the heads of ine Institute - about the vampire problem. I was afraid I was going to be left attempting to find my own room again but Sebastian walked back with me. Apparently he had done more exploring then I had and already knew the ins and outs of this place.

"Thanks, Sebastian," I told him as we reached my room. But, I walked into Izzy's room instead.

"Clary? Did you forget which one was your room?" Sebastian asked from the doorway.

"No I just need some pj's," I told my brother as I started going through her drawers.

"She won't mind?"

I found what I was looking for: some sleep shorts and a loose t-shirt. "No, we're parabatai. You always seem to forget that. And she offered to lend me clothes anyway." I pushed past him and back into my own room.

"I guess I'll never really know what that means: parabatai." He shrugged.

"You know you're still 17, right? You can still do the ceremony," I told him.

"Yeah, but who would be my parabatai? There's no one I'm close enough too. I think I'm better off alone anyhow." I caught a different meaning behind those words.

"You're not alone, Sebastian. Me, you, Mom, we're all in this together. We're all going through the same thing." I hugged him. I knew he had been a lot closer to Dad than I had. I knew he was hurting more than me.

"Thank you, Clary," he said pulling away. "I'd better get to bed. Big day tomorrow right?" I nodded. Sebastian was attempting to fill our father's shoes by training newly ascended shadowhunters. Tomorrow would be a trail run with the ascended at the institute.

"May the angels be ever in your favor!," I called after my brother as he left the room, wishing him luck. Tomorrow would be a day for the books.

 **Author's Note: Thanks for checking out this story! It means a lot to me! This story is still a very rough WIP so it'll have some problems most definitely. This first chapter isn't structured very well but that's because I didn't intend to post this as a story when I started writing. The rest of the chapters will be better structured.**

 **Some things you should know about this story:**

 **-Isabelle and Clary are parabatai (obviously) and so are Alec and Jace**

 **-The Circle isn't evil in this story. They just wanted to create more Shadowhunters to fight the demons (the Circle's original goal). Valentine was the one training newly made shadowhunters in Idris.**

 **-Jace's circumstances are the same: his parents died and he was sent to live with the Lightwoods.**

 **-Izzy and Clary became parabatai because Maryse typically brought Izzy to Idris with her when conducting business with Valentine and left Izzy to play with Clary at the Morgenstern Manor.**

 **-I decided to name Sebastian, well Sebastian instead of Jonathan Christopher because that's Jace's name and I thought it would be too confusing having two Jonathan Christophers.**

 **-Jace's treatment of Clary? Clary isn't some mystery in this story to figure out. She's just a shadowhunter. He's treating her like he would treat anyone.**

 **-Character's OOC? This is an AU. They've grown up differently, they have slightly different personalities.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for reading this story! I'm hoping you're enjoying it! Please comment so I can hear your thoughts! Also, this story is available on wattpad as well. Follow it on there if you want more frequent chapters (it's easier to post a chapter there on mobile when I'm out and about then on here).**

"Clary! Wake up! I made breakfast!" I groaned as someone ripped the blanket off of me. I shivered for warmth. Then I was hit with a pillow. "Clary!"

"What..." I croaked out opening my eyes. It was Izzy.

"Get up! I made breakfast!" She repeated.

"No Izzy, why." Being her parabatai I had been on the receiving end of far too many of Isabelle Lightwood's cooking disasters.

I was hit with the pillow again. "Shut up! It's just cereal, I don't think even I could ruin that." I wanted to argue that she could find a way but I didn't want to get hit with the pillow for a third time. "I left some training gear on the dresser. It's been far too long since we've trained together, parabatai." With that Izzy left me to get dressed.

I groaned as I rolled out of bed and inspected the training gear. It looked pretty much the same as what I had worn before in Idris, except newer. I dressed, put my hair up, and somehow managed to find my way to the kitchen.

The kitchen was empty except for my parabatai, Sebastian and Izzy's little brother, Max. "Morning," I yawned. I had met Max many times before but he always seemed to like Sebastian more than me. Maybe he thought I was stealing his sister or something.

Izzy handed me a bowl of milk and a box of cereal. After a quick hello the boys ignored me. Sebastian was showing Max some book he brought from Idris with him. "Izzy. The cereal goes in first, not the milk," I told her.

"It's all the same in the end." Izzy shrugged. I shook my head as I poured the cereal in and then quickly caught a spoon Izzy threw in my direction. Mad parabatai skills right there.

My parabatai sat down next to me with her own bowl of cereal. "So we're training today?" I questioned. It had been a while since I trained.

Izzy nodded. "Yeah, I thought it'd be a good way for you to get into the swing of things here, at the Institute." I nodded. It sounded like a pretty good idea.

"Max you have rune lessons with your father, don't forget," a voice said, entering the kitchen. I looked up from my cereal to see Maryse entering with my mother in tow.

"But Mom! Sebastian is showing me his book!" Max complained.

"Don't complain Max," Maryse told him.

Max didn't look happy and was about to open his mouth when Sebastian spoke. "Here, Max. Take the book, you can look at it later."

The nine year old's eyes lit up. "Thanks Sebastian!" He exclaimed clutching the book before running off.

"Sebastian, are you ready?" Maryse questioned. I had almost forgotten that he was supposed to train the Ascended today. My brother nodded and followed the head of the institute out of the room.

My mom kissed me on the head. "Morning, Clary, Izzy. Maryse told me you guys had some fun in the field last night." She sat down with a cup of coffee. I don't really know what part was exactly fun about last night. Well, Sebastian punching Jace had been the highlight at least.

Thinking of that moment I smiled. "Yeah, it was fun. A nice change from Idris."

My mother nodded. "What are you girls up to today?"

"We're gonna train," I told my mother.

"Really? Well, be careful. Both of you." Just leave it to my mother to be worried about my in the safety of the institute.

"We will be," I promised her. "Come on Izzy; I want to get training."

"That's the Clary I know and love," Izzy said as we put our empty bowls in the sink.

"Bye Mom," I said as we exited the kitchen. We made our way down to the training room but stopped short when we heard noise coming from the room.

"No!" Izzy exclaimed running into the room. I followed her to find Jace and Alec sparring in the training room. "Come on guys!"

Alec stopped what he was doing and turned towards us. "What?" He questioned and then Jace whacked him with the training sword. "Jace!"

"What? You got distracted," Jace laughed.

"Because my sister yelled at us! What do you want, Izzy?" Alec asked.

"I told you both yesterday Clary and I were using the training room today," Izzy argued.

"I figured you could just use the Ascended training room." Jace shrugged.

"Really? The training room where my brother is training the Ascended at this moment?" I jumped in. Jace Herondale really got on my last nerve.

"Yeah well you should have thought of that," Jace replied. "Don't blame us for your lapse in thinking."

"You little-" I started but Izzy held me back.

"He's just trying to rile you up, Clary," Izzy told me. "Come on, we'll go do something else until they're done."

"No!" I stood my ground. "We're gonna train. They can just deal with it." I strolled into the room.

Izzy laughed. "That's my Parabatai."

I walked over to the daggers to practice my throwing. I hadn't done that in a while. Hadn't done anything really. I threw a dagger in Izzy's direction which she caught, effortlessly.

"Showing off are we?" Jace remarked. I actually hadn't been showing off but it was nice to see him riled up for a change.

"Is the infamous Jace Herondale jealous at the bond I have with my parabatai?" I mocked.

Jace rolled his eyes. "As if. Alec and I can do that in our sleep. I'm surprised though, considering the two of you haven't really fought together in a real fight." I hated to admit it but Jace was right. Izzy and I had never been together during a mission (except last night which didn't include any fighting). "Are you guys even real parabatai? I mean you've never had each other's backs in a fight before."

"Jace, just stop it," Alec sighed, having enough of his parabatai.

I was about to retort something back to the blond when Izzy spoke. "How about we have a little competition? We'll show you boys just what a real parabatai pair looks like."

Alec sighed again and Jace grinned. "I like a challenge. But we'll be the ones showing you up."

"We'll just see about that," I said to him. I turned to Izzy. "Do you really think we can beat them?"

"After seeing them fight side by side for years, no not really," Izzy admitted, lowering her voice so the boys couldn't hear. "But we'll sure give them a run for their money."

"Are you girls ready to fight? Or are you going to chat all day?" Jace's voice asked.

I glared at the Herondale as Izzy grabbed a couple wooden training blades and handed one to me. "Alec sucks with these. He's only good with his arrows," she whispered to me. I nodded. We only had to really worry about Jace then.

"Whoever knocks the pair of parabatai down first wins," Jace decided. I vowed that that was not going to be Izzy and I. I had to prove to Jace once and for all I wasn't some little mundane girl. I was a shadowhunter, as deadly as he was. Izzy and I were the perfect pair and we would show him.

I weighed the wooden sword in my hand. It was a little longer and bulkier than Heosphoros, my blade that was the length of my forearm, but I knew I could handle it. I had learned on a wooden blade just like this.

"Okay then, read-" before Jace could finish speaking I darted at him, swinging the blade down towards his head. Quick as a flash he blocked it with his sword. He was stronger than me and pushed me back. He attempted to strike at me but Izzy was there, her sword in the way.

In an instant I rolled as I noticed another sword hacking my way: Alec. I was in a crouching position, using my blade to block his. Izzy was right. His posture was all wrong. Using the force from the ground, I pushed up at him knocking him off balance. I swung out my leg and tripped him. He fell on the floor, his sword bouncing away. One down, Jace to go.

"Clary!" Izzy shouted. I rolled again just as a sword made contact with the ground where I had been not a second before. Jace had gotten out of sparring with Izzy and made a beeline for me, apparently.

I swung my blade to block his next blow. "Izzy!" I shouted, giving my parabatai a knowing look. She smiled as the snake on her wrist uncoiled into a whip. I smiled as well.

"What are you smiling ab-" Jace didn't get to finish his question as the whip wrapped around his ankle. Izzy gave a tug and tripped him. He face planted the floor. I wish I had been recording that.

I laughed and walked over to Izzy. "Sorry Jace, you lost," I said with mock sorrow.

"That was cheating!" Jace exclaimed.

"You never said we couldn't use other weapons." Izzy shrugged. "And please, Jace, it's not like you don't bend the rules enough either."

A phone suddenly started to go off and Alec rolled to his feet. "That's mine," he announced as he made his way over to the table where his phone was sitting. "Hello? Magnus how did you-... I see, okay. We'll be over. Yeah. Bye." He looked at the three of us. "That was Magnus. He wants us to come over."

"Why?" I questioned.

"He didn't really give an explanation," Alec said. "Something to do with the downworlders."

My parabatai sighed. "Come on, Clary, let's go get changed, I guess."

I glanced at Jace as we left the room. He was still on the floor. "Izzy? Does Jace just normally lie on the floor like that without moving?"

"He's a Herondale. They all do ridiculous things," Izzy laughed. "Like being terrified of ducks."

 **A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter! And yeah I'm making Sebastian and Max buddies. I'm not evil or anything. I have some Malec coming next chapter so look out for that!**


	3. Chapter 3

I screamed as I entered my room. Izzy rushed from her room. "Clary?!" She then stopped, realized what was going on and started laughing.

"My stuff!" I yelled running over to a stack of boxes. Half a dozen boxes and a couple suitcases were scattered around my room. It seemed someone had located our missing belongings.

I opened one box to find it full of pencils, crayons, watercolors, sketching paper: art supplies. I smiled.

"I love seeing you happy, Clary, but we really have to get going. It's best not to keep the High Warlock of Brooklyn waiting," my parabatai reminded me.

"I know," I said opening another box. "There! I was looking for my clothes. I'm sorry, Izzy, I love you but I want to put my own clothes on."

Izzy smiled, happy to see I was in such a good mood. "Well just try to hurry up." She left my room, closing the door behind her so I could get dressed.

I pulled out my favorite black leather jacket from the box. It smelled like home. I smiled and quickly got dressed and then knelt down next to one of the suitcases. Unzipping it I smiled again at what was inside: weapons of all kinds. Tucked inside a dark scabbard was my beloved blade: Heosphoros.

I attached the scabbard to my belt. It didn't matter to me that we were only going to talk to a warlock; I wasn't going to let this blade out of my sight again. It was the single most important item my father had ever give to me.

I opened the door and considered asking Sebastian to come with us but I stopped myself. No, he was busy training the Ascended. I didn't want to bother him.

"You ready?" Izzy questioned stepping out of her room. Her training gear was gone; she now wore a black dress and high-heeled boots, not like she needed to be any taller then she already was, but she loved them.

I nodded to her and we made our way down to the entryway. Jace and Alec were already waiting. "Took you long enough," Jace remarked. I didn't expect anything less from him.

"Not now, Jace," Alec sighed. I guess it was even possible for his parabatai to get tired of Herondale. "We need to get going; Magnus sounded impatient on the phone."

We arrived Magnus's loft and Alec knocked on the door. Half an instant later the door swung open revealing Magnus standing there.

"Ah, Alexander." The warlock smiled. "And you three," he said with a wave of his hand before ushering us inside.

"How did you know my name?" Alec questioned. I had been wondering the same thing. We hadn't exactly introduced ourselves the last time we were here.

"I am the High Warlock of Brooklyn, I have my ways," Magnus answered. "Alexander, I require your assistance." He grinned at Alec before turning to the rest of us, wearing a less interested face. "Simon, the vampire from last night, wants to speak with the rest of you. He's in the alley." The vampire wanted to see us? Again? We had just seen him last night.

"If you think I'm leaving Alec here alone with you, Warlock, you've got another thing coming," Jace argued. For once, I agreed with the blond. If it were Izzy in this position I wouldn't be so keen to leave her either.

Magnus sighed. "What is with you Herondales and being so overprotective of your parabatai?"

"You've known-" Jace never got to finish his sentence and Magnus cut him off.

"I swear on the angel that Alexander here will not be harmed. Feel free to hunt me down and kill me if I break my word," the warlock stated.

Jace still looked unsure. "Jace, it's fine," Alec told him. "Really, just go. Don't keep the vampire waiting."

"I won't just kill you warlock, I'll cut-" Izzy grabbed Jace's arm and steered him towards the door.

"Okay, and we're going," she said as we walked out of the warlock's loft.

"What alley did Magnus say the vampire was in?" I questioned glancing around. There were two alleys, one on either side of Magnus's house and also the ones across the street.

"He didn't," Izzy replied.

"Looking for me?" A voice said from the shadows of the alley to our right. In the dark I could just make out a figure standing there. As we made our way over I noticed that it was indeed the same vampire from the night before, Simon.

"Izzy, Clary." The vampire was smiling, in a way that ensured we would see his fangs, as we approached. The smile disappeared when he realized Jace was with us. "Oh you brought another one."

"What I want to know, is why the two of you are on a first name basis with a vampire?" Jace asked, sounding very annoyed.

"Because some people have manners, Jace," Izzy said to him before walking over to the vampire. She gingerly set her hand on his arm. "Ignore him. He's like a puppy dog, following us around. What was it you wanted, Simon?"

I could barely contain my laughter; Jace looked like he was going to explode. Then, the vampire slapped my parabatai's hand away and I ceased my laughter completely. The atmosphere changed instantly.

"I don't want any of your games," Simon snapped. "One of you shadowhunters killed one of ours last night, while we were at the party."

"You're mistaken," Izzy told him. "We were all accounted for last night. The Ascended were all in attendance during nightly roll call."

"How do you even know it was a shadowhunter?" Jace asked as well. "Just because a vampire was killed doesn't mean we did it."

"It is painfully obvious it was one of you. You'll understand when you see the body," Simon explained. "This way, shadowhunters."

I glanced at Izzy as we began to follow the vampire down the alley. I didn't understand how it could have been one of us. We were all accounted for last night. The same uncertainty was present in my parabatai's eyes.

Suddenly, Simon stopped. He opened a manhole leading down to the sewer below. "Ladies first," he insisted.

"Vampire first," Jace cut in. "For all we know you could be leading us into an ambush." Simon sighed, realizing he was not going to win this one and hopped down first.

Izzy went after him and I followed after her, Jace brought up the rear. I was starting to think following a vampire into a pitch black sewer probably wasn't the best idea but we really didn't have any other options.

Jace produced a witch light and I realised I had forgotten mine in the weapons suitcase.

Simon glanced back. "You shadowhunters and your angelic items," he sighed.

"Sorry we can't all see in the dark," Jace retorted. For once I agreed with him. Sure, we could just draw a Nyx rune for night vision but it was probably more trouble then it was worth.

The longer we walked the more I thought I should have just drawn a Nyx rune on myself. But then Simon led us to a dead end. He climbed the ladder and opened another manhole. Following him out, onto the street, I realised we were in another alley.

"In here," Simon said leading us into an abandoned building. It looked like it used to be a storehouse for something in the past.

In the center of the room lay a body and a head. The head was severed from the body, obviously how the vampire was killed.

The vampire was shirtless and when I saw what was on his chest I stifled a gasp. It was the Enkeli rune, angelic power. And the body had multiple burns from what appeared to be a seraph blade. This vampire hadn't just been killed, he had been tortured.

Simon picked up the decapitated head by the hair and tossed it to Jace. "Open the mouth." I glanced over as Jace did as he was told. The vampire's fangs had been ripped out. Jace threw the head on the floor. Not gonna lie I would have done the same.

"Spoils of war, no doubt," Simon said. "Obviously this was done by one of you. The burns from the blade, the mark. Someone is obviously trying to make a statement of their power."

"It wasn't one of us," Jace insisted. "There's no way. The Ascended were at the institute all night."

"As I recall there were five of you at the party last night," Simon stated. "I only talked to you two." He nodded towards Izzy and I. "You shadowhunters are swift. You could have killed him and made it back to the party before anyone had noticed your absence."

Simon was walking around. He stopped in front of Jace. "Perhaps it was you, Angel boy. Or maybe that black haired one Magnus has taken a liking to."

Jace whipped out a dagger and held it to the vampire's throat. "If you ever accuse me or my parabatai again I won't hesitate to kill you."

Simon laughed as he moved away from Jace. "Then, possibly it was the other boy. He looked like he had the devil in his eye."

"Sebastian wouldn't do it," I insisted.

"I highly suggest then, that you shadowhunters figure out who it is," Simon demanded. "Otherwise there will be war. My Masters have grown tired of this." With that, he was gone.

Jace pulled something out of his pocket. A black, rectangle object.

"What's that?" I asked Izzy.

"It's a cell phone, Clary," she told me. "He's taking a picture of the body."

"A phone can do all that?" I had never had one of these cell phones, or whatever. Izzy nodded.

Jace put his phone away after taking the picture. "Let's go get Alec and get back to the institute. Maryse is going to love hearing about this."

"Maybe that's not such a good idea," I stated. "Whoever killed this vampire is obviously hiding it. If they find out we know they might be more cautious, making it harder for us to catch them."

"Clary? You can't be implying that my mother was the one who did this, can you?" Izzy questioned.

"No, of course not. I trust Maryse. But what if somebody overhears? I think it's safer to keep it to ourselves. We can solve this ourselves. It had to be someone at the Institute. Find the fangs, find the killer."

"I don't say this often," Jace started. "But I agree with Clary."

"You've never said that," I told him.

"My point exactly."

"Okay," Izzy agreed. "We don't tell anybody other than Alec and Sebastian. We're all in this together."

"Agreed," Jace and I said at the same time. I glanced at him. I thought he was going to argue about Sebastian knowing. He didn't seem to like him very much. "Let's go get Alec. I may have a warlock I need to kill."

 **A/N: Once again thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed Chapter 3 and the Malec! If you were expecting more, I'm sorry! I meant to write more and then the chapter got too long so I stopped. But there will be more next chapter! Remember to Review! I love hearing your feedback, good or bad! Because I can always learn! Also, who do you think is killing the vamps? Till next time~**


	4. Chapter 4

Jace knocked violently on Magnus' door. "Open up, Warlock!" he shouted right before the door opened.

"You're all so persistent," Magnus sighed, standing in the doorway. He let the three of us inside. "As you can tell, I did not harm your parabatai." Alec was sitting on the couch with a cat in his lap.

"We're going, Alec," Jace declared.

"Oh, right," Alec replied, gingerly setting the cat down on the couch and standing up. The tabby meowed and stared after him as he walked away.

"Thank you for your help, Alexander," Magnus said as we walked out the door.

"R-right, anytime," Alec replied. The warlock was grinning at him like an idiot and did Alec look...shy? I glanced at Izzy but her face didn't give anything away. I'd ask her about it later.

The four of us began walking away from the warlock's loft and Jace looked at Alec. "What did Magnus want with you anyway?"

"Oh, he needed him finding Chairman Meow," the ebony haired boy explained.

"Chairman what?" Jace questioned.

"His cat," Alec sighed. "It was hiding underneath Magnus' bed the entire time." I remembered the warlock saying something about the party being for Chairman Meow...who gave their cat a birthday party?

"Who knew you were so pet friendly, Alec," Izzy laughed. "The cat looked like he was really smitten with you." I sensed that her words held a double meaning, just another thing I would ask her about later.

"Apparently animals like me," Alec decided. "Just not Church."

"Church doesn't like anybody," Jace told him.

"Who's Church?" I asked. That was a name I had not heard before.

"He's our cat," Izzy told me. "I'm surprised you haven't seen him already. He's usually around."

"Max pulled his tail the other day," Jace said. "He's in a mood."

"Since when do you have a cat? I've known you for my entire life and you never mentioned a cat." I was really confused about the whole cat thing. Having an animal was usually something you mentioned to somebody, especially if you were bound for life.

"He's not exactly our cat," my parabatai explained. "He's kind of just been at the Institute forever. He's immortal or something." I didn't even want to question how a cat could become immortal so I left that subject alone. Growing up a shadowhunter you learned that some things were just weird.

We arrived back at the Institute and I went off to find Sebastian. We needed to talk to him about what Simon had said. Jace hadn't told Alec about the killing yet either. He was going to wait until my brother was there so we wouldn't have to explain it twice.

I got lucky because Sebastian and the Ascended were taking a break. Or they were supposed to be, I actually found him lunging with his sword in the empty training room. Phaesphoros was the name of the blade. The twin to mine. Our father had given it to him when he received his first rune, just as I was given Heosphoros when I received mine.

My brother noticed me and stopped. "How'd it go today?" I questioned. Sebastian walked over towards me, stopping short at the table to take a drink of water.

"Alright I guess," Sebastian replied.

"Good then." I grabbed his wrist and started pulling him out of the room. "We need to talk."

I led him to Izzy's room where the five of us had agreed to meet. "Finally," Jace sighed as Sebastian and I entered the room. I glared at him. Sure, I had gotten lost, again, but I hated Jace acting like he was better than me.

"Now that we're all here," Alec started as I closed the door behind me. "What's this all about?"

"Magnus invited us over to meet Simon again," I informed Sebastian. I hadn't said anything to him on the way over, not wanting anybody else to overhear.

"And while Alec was finding a cat, the three of us met Simon," Izzy explained.

Jace took out his phone. "The vampire led us to a body; a vampire that was killed by a shadowhunter." He passed the picture on his phone to his parabatai and then Alec passed it to my brother.

Sebastian passed the phone back to its owner. "And I'm guessing you guys have no idea who killed the vampire?"

I nodded as Jace spoke. "Simon had a hunch that it was an Ascended. Or you," he stared at my brother.

"I was at the party, with you all," Sebastian defended himself.

"Yes, but Alec and I were together the entire time, so neither of us did it," Jace concluded. "And those two were with the vampire." He pointed to Izzy and I. "You were the only one alone. You had plenty of time to kill the vampire and make it back to the party without any of us knowing."

That was it. I was tired of people accusing Sebastian. He would never do something like that. Izzy placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me from yelling at Jace. I got the meaning: Sebastian needed to defend himself.

"Me?" Sebastian laughed. "Why would I kill a random vampire? I don't even know the layout of New York, I've never been out in the field to know exactly how to kill a vampire." It was the truth; living in Idris our entire lives, our parents had sheltered us from life outside, and that meant a life from missions and downworlders.

Jace clenched his jaw as he considered Sebastian's words.

"Fine, then what about the Ascended angle?" Alec asked.

"Impossible," Izzy interjected. "All the Ascended were at roll call last night, I heard Mom mention it this morning."

Sebastian nodded in agreement. "Maryse told me the same thing. And roll call happened when we were at the party, there's no way one of them could have done it."

The five of us stood there, silent. We were just going around in circles. Then, I got another idea. "Are there other shadowhunters in New York?" I questioned. "Like, not living at the Institute."

"Obviously not," Jace said to me. "They would have been the first suspects if so." And then we were stumped again.

I sighed. "Okay, let's take a step back. How many shadowhunters are at the Institute?"

"Let's see," Izzy thought aloud. "Us five, Max, Mom, Dad, your Mom and five Ascended. How many is that? Ten?"

"Six Ascended," Sebastian corrected Izzy. "Another arrived this morning."

We all turned to him. "What did you just say?" Jace asked.

"There's six Ascended now. One more came this morning," Sebastian repeated. That got our gears ticking.

"Is it possible that they arrived last night? They could have easily snuck around Brooklyn and killed the vampire. Then they could have made it seem like they just arrived this morning," I hypothesized. It sounded very probable. Everyone except Sebastian seemed to agree with me, even Jace.

"No," my brother said. "He wouldn't. I don't think he has it in him."

"Who are we talking about here?" Jace questioned.

"George," Sebastian said. "George Lovelace."

"Lovelace?" Jace repeated. "I know that last name." He thought for a second. "There was a Lovelace that lived at the London Institute with my great-great-grandfather or something."

"But they're an inactive family now," Alec said. "Who knows if they even know about being shadowhunters any longer."

"But George is an actual Lovelace," Sebastian told the five of us. "Or, sort of. He was a mundane but adopted by the Lovelace family. But George...he's the sweetest shadowhunter you'll ever meet. He wouldn't do it."

Jace slammed his palms down on Izzy's side table making everyone jump. "Well somebody did it! One of the eleven shadowhunters at this Institute did."

"The vampire fangs," I suddenly remembered. "They took them as a spoil. We have the find the fangs. If we find the fangs we find the killer."

"So what's the plan then?" Izzy asked. "Search everybody's rooms?"

"Sounds like a place to start, at least," Alec decided.

"Are we seriously banking on the idea that someone in our _family_ killed the vampire?" Izzy exclaimed.

"I still think it was an Ascended." Jace shrugged. "Somehow, someway."

Sebastian threw his hands up. "Whatever. I'll be training with the Ascended until dinner. You four can deal with searching everyone's rooms." He glanced at the time. "I actually have to go right now." He looked at me. "Tell me how it goes." I nodded before he left the room.

"I'm actually taking Max to the bookstore," Alec announced. "So it'll just be you three."

"Awesome." I smiled. Working with Izzy was great, but Jace on the other hand...

Jace cracked his knuckles. "Let's go break some doors down."

"Jace," I said. "The whole point of this is to not draw attention to ourselves," I told him as the four of us filed out of the room.

"Right. Let's break some doors down...quietly."

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you're enjoying the story so far! Don't forget to Review! I love to hear your thoughts! Who do you think killed the vampire?**


	5. Chapter 5

"We should start by searching that Lovelace's room," Jace suggested.

"Why?" I asked. "Sebastian already ruled him out as a suspect."

"It's the nice ones you always gotta watch out for," Jace said. "How much do we really know about him? What if its just a front? What if he really is the one doing this? That Lovelace that my great whatever knew, I remember something about her betraying the London Institute. George could have it in him."

I decided not to mention the fact that George wasn't actually of Lovelace descent because he had been adopted. But... he did have a point about it always being the quiet ones. "Fine, we go to George's room first."

"Isabelle," a deep voice said from the corridor. The three of us turned to see a man standing there: Robert Lightwood. "Neither you or your brother reported what happened with Magnus this morning." Crap. We were caught.

"Right! Sorry, we forgot," Izzy said. "Um, I'll come with you now!" She followed her dad off, turning her head towards me to mouth 'sorry.' She was leaving me alone with Jace Herondale.

"And then there were two," Jace commented. "Come on, we have a lot of rooms to search." Following after the blond, I found myself surprised that he hadn't made some sarcastic comment to me.

We entered George's room to find that it was as sparse as mine had been when I arrived. The only thing that was out of place was a suitcase on the bed. I supposed he hadn't had the chance to unpack yet.

Jace unzipped the suitcase as I walked around the room opening drawers making sure there was nothing there. I glanced at Jace and couldn't help but thinking that we were invading the Ascended's privacy. But it had to be done.

"No vampire fangs here," the blond said zipping back up the suitcase. "The rest of the Ascended's rooms are in this hallway. We can split them up between the two of us."

I nodded and entered the room across the hallway. It looked like a girl's room with a frilly bedsheet and clothes thrown around. It was a complete mess. I delicately walked through the room, picking up clothes and checking inside pockets. I then made sure I put them back exactly like I found them. It took forever.

"You done yet?" Jace's voice floated from the doorway. I was just finishing up the room, checking in the closet. "I already checked the other four."

"How did you manage that already?" I knew I had taken a while but not that long. I closed the closest door and tip-toed around all the clothes on the floor.

"Because they weren't a mess like this room," Jace shrugged. "But no vampire fangs."

I nodded. "I didn't find them in here either." I voiced a thought I had had halfway through looking through the room. "Why would someone hide them in their own room? Wouldn't they hide them someplace else?"

Jace shook his head. "Whoever took them...they want to show it off as some sort of trophy. They wouldn't just leave them around some place for someone else to find."

"Then they must have it on them," I concluded. "We've searched all the Ascended's' rooms."

Jace shook his head. "We haven't checked everybody's yet," he said as he started walking down the corridor. I followed after him.

"Didn't we decide it had to be an Ascended? Who's left?" I questioned. Was there someone else living here that no one had mentioned before?

Jace didn't say anything. Then, I realized where he was going. "Jace!" I shouted. I ran in front of him to stop him. "Sebastian didn't do it! You were there when he cleared himself!"

The blonde crossed his arms. "I never agreed that he was in the clear."

I stared him down...or up. He was taller then me. "Sebastian didn't do it," I repeated, more forcefully this time.

"Then let me check his room. Prove his innocence."

I sighed, frustrated. "Fine! If this is the only way you can get it through your thick skull that my brother didn't kill the vampire!"

Jace chuckled at my outburst and pushed past me, walking further down the hallway until he reached Sebastian's room. I stood in the doorway as he began going through my brother's things. He wasn't very careful and started throwing stuff around.

It took ten minutes before Jace was satisfied that the vampire fangs weren't in Sebastian's room. He started walking over to me, out of the room. "See? I told you Sebastian didn't do it."

Suddenly the wood creaked underneath Jace's feet. One panel of wood sounded different than the others. The shadowhunter stopped and tapped the wood with his foot. It sounded odd. He knelt down and knocked on it. A hollow sound echoed.

"It's hollow," Jace said. "There's something underneath here." I held my breath as he removed the panel of wood.

My heart stopped as he pulled out a small leather pouch. When he turned it upside down to empty it two white teeth fell into his hand. The vampire fangs.

"That's impossible..." There was no why Sebastian could have done it. I didn't believe it.

Jace put the fangs back in the bag and placed the bag back in the secret compartment. He replaced the wood panel. He quickly stood up, grabbing my wrist. "Come with me." I was still too shell-shocked to argue.

Before I knew it we were entering my room. Jace closed the door behind us and locked it.

I looked at him. "Are you happy now? Proving that my brother is a liar as well as a murderer?" I could feel myself fighting back tears. After everything that had happened recently I couldn't take this too.

"Clary-" Jace started but I cut him off.

"That was a rhetorical question. Of course you're happy! You suspected Sebastian instantly! Oh look, Jace was right again," I laughed dryly.

"Clary, shut up!" Jace hissed. "Sebastian didn't do it!"

I stared at him. "What?" Now I was confused. "We just found the fangs in his room."

"It's too easy," he told me.

"But you said if we find the fangs we find the killer-"

"Actually, you said that, if you remember correctly," Jace pointed out.

"But you agree-"

"Actually, I didn't." Jace had gotten me very confused. "All this? It's too easy. Find the fangs, find the killer. Obviously, the real killer would have realized we were going to think that. They had to think of something else." Finally, I was catching on.

"So... they hid the fangs in someone else's room." I looked at Jace as I realized something. "They're trying to pit us against each other."

Jace nodded. "If we're fighting amongst ourselves we'll be too preoccupied to notice them."

"So what were the vampire fangs then? A distraction?" I asked.

"Most likely," he agreed.

"Then the question is...what were they distracting us from?"

 **A/N: Sorry this chapter is short. I got to that stopping point and decided it was good enough to finish off the chapter. The next chapter might not come out until Wednesday...sorry! I'm going to the Lady Midnight launch party on Tuesday and we're leaving tomorrow night meaning I don't have time to write. And Tuesday I'll be busy with the signing. So Wednesday! As always, thanks for reading! And please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Jace and I stood silent for a few moments, both letting our recent revelation wash over us. I had a feeling that whatever we were supposed to be distracted from was a lot worse than a vampire being killed.

Jace was the one who broke the silence, noticing my box of art supplies. He walked over to it and picked up the first thing in the box: an old sketch pad of mine. "What's this?" He asked as he opened it. That sketch book was a couple years old, filled with drawings of shadowhunter life in Idris: the glass city of Alicante, what the hills looked like from the Mogenstern Manor, Lake Lynn, and more. It was a reminder of the life that I could never call my own again.

"Just drawing stuff," I told him.

"I recognize this style," Jace noted. He glanced at me. "You drew the picture in Izzy's room didn't you?"

I nodded. I knew what picture he was talking about. I had drawn my Parabatai dozens of pictures over the years but the one on the wall was the one she wanted the most: a self portrait of myself. Izzy said it was better than a picture, she saw me in it, my art, my style, what made me Clary, she had said.

Jace set the sketch pad back in the box and looked at me. "I didn't know you were an artist."

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me," I told him. Maybe if he had taken two seconds to get to know me I wouldn't be practically a stranger to him.

Before Jace could say anything, there was a meow at the door. You read that right: meow.

We looked towards the door to notice a plump gray cat sitting there.

"Church," Jace said making his way over to the cat. So this was the infamous Church. "What is it? Is Alec back?" He reached out to pet the cat but Church hissed and he drew his hand away. Church turned and started walking down the hall. "We better follow him."

I followed after Jace and the cat. Church led the way through the corridors of the Institute that I was just starting to learn my way around. He stopped in the entry way because there stood Max, Alec and Izzy.

Max was showing Izzy the book he got at the bookstore. I swear the gray car glared at the nine year old as he slinked away.

"I wasn't sure if Church was going to find you or not," Alec stated. Izzy, realizing that we were here, looked away from he book and to me.

"Church likes me, of course he found me," Jace said. Considering the cat had just hissed at him, I wasn't so sure that was true. And didn't he just say this morning that Church didn't like anybody?

"Church hates you," Izzy pointed out. "And us. And everybody on this Earth."

Max ran off to show his parents the book he had got, leaving the four of us. "Did you find anything?" Alec questioned as soon as the kid was out of earshot.

"Not here," Jace mumbled and the group of us made our way into Izzy's room once again. Our rooms happened to be the closest to the front of the Institute.

I wanted to wait to tell Sebastian but be wasn't going to be done training for another hour or so. I figured I could just fill him in later.

"The vampire fangs weren't in any of the Ascendeds' rooms," Jace told the siblings. "But we did find them."

"Where?" Alec questioned.

"In Sebastian's room. Hidden under a loose panel in the floor," he explained and the Lightwoods gasped.

"Sebastian didn't do it," I told them.

Jace nodded. "It's too easy for Sebastian to have done it. It's what anybody would suspect."

"So you think someone planted them there?" Izzy asked.

"Yes," I answered her. "Someone wants us to think it was Sebastian. They're trying to distract us."

"Distract us from what?" Alec wondered.

"We don't know," Jace told him. "But it's probably something bad. That's why we need to stay ahead of this; we need to make whoever actually killed that vampire believe we're playing along with there game but in reality we're not."

What was Jace saying now? We hadn't talked about any of this.

"That's why we can't let Sebastian in on the fact that we know he didn't do it. He has to believe that we really think he killed the vampire."

"No!" I shouted. "We're not doing that! He can just pretend like the rest of us."

"Clary, some aspect of this needs to be real," Jace told me.

"I can't lie to him," I said. I had never lied to him before. We were close, almost as close as Parabatai. Lying to him was like lying to Izzy. "I won't."

I stood my ground. I wasn't going to lie to my brother like that, not after everything that had happened in the past weeks. Jace crossed his arms and glared back at me. It was looking like he wasn't going to let up either.

Finally, Izzy spoke. "Clary..." I could tell by her tone it was not what I wanted to hear. "I think Jace is right."

"Izzy!" I spun to face her. "You're supposed to side with me!"

She sighed. "I'm sorry, Clary. It's just...Jace's idea is better. If we're all acting someone is gonna slip up. At least with Sebastian thinking we all think he's the murderer that gives it some degree of authenticity."

I still couldn't believe my Parabatai was siding with Jace Herondale. I didn't want to listen to her reasoning.

"It's three to one, Clary, majority rules," Alec pointed out. Of course, he sided with his Parabatai. I huffed and crossed my arms, not liking the situation. He looked at Jace. "So what's our next move?"

"When Sebastian gets out of training we confront him about the fangs," Jace explained. "Make him believe that we are sure he did it."

I leaned against the wall next to the training room, glaring at Jace. I hated this plan of his.

"Clary, just to note: you're not going to kill me with your glaring," he informed me.

"Sadly you're right, but just think could you do what I have to do? Could you lie to Alec?" I challenged him.

He sighed. "If it was the only way, yes. And this is the only way, Clary."

Shadowhunters started to file out of the training room and that stopped our conversation. I pushed off the wall when all the Ascended had left, leaving Sebastian alone in the room. I followed after Jace inside.

My brother was putting away some equipment as we walked over to him. He looked up. "Did you guys find the fangs?"

"Why don't we show him, Clary?" Jace said. I kept my mouth shut. I wasn't going to play a bigger part in this than was necessary.

I didn't dare look at Sebastian as we made our way to his room. I was afraid he would see the truth on my face. And as much as I hated this entire plan if we were going to go through with it, I couldn't screw it up.

Izzy and Alec were already inside my brother's room. They had been waiting since we went to go get Sebastian.

"What's going on?" Sebastian asked as we entered the room. "What are you guys doing in my room?"

"Why don't we show him?" Jace nodded to his parabatai. Alec kicked open the wood panel and then reached down to pick up the small pouch. He tossed it to Jace.

The blond produced the fangs from inside the bag, showing them off to Sebastian. "What do we have here? Vampire fangs."

"I didn't do it!" Sebastian yelled. "I didn't even know that compartment was there, I swear!" I believed every word that he said.

Jace carelessly threw the pouch and fangs on the bed. He gripped Sebastian's shirt and shoved him against the wall. "I'm tired of your lies, Morgenstern!"

"I'm not lying!" Sebastian shouted and shoved Jace away. He searched the four of our faces. His gaze stopped on mine. "Clary? You can't seriously believe this?" I looked down. I didn't trust my own voice.

"Even your own sister knows you did it," Jace said. "Why can't you just admit it?"

"Because I didn't do it! Someone is framing me!" Sebastian defended himself.

"Cut the crap, Sebastian!" Jace snapped. "We all know you did it!"

"Then turn me into the Clave! Let them use the Mortal Sword on me! You'll see that I didn't do it when I tell the truth," Sebastian reasoned. Jace was silent. "That's it, isn't it? You don't have enough proof!"

"You'd better watch yourself," Jace warned. "Because the second we do have the proof we will turn you in." With that the blond walked out of the room, Alec trailing after him. I started to walk out after Izzy but Sebastian grabbed my arm.

"Clary...please. You can't believe this. After everything we've been through together." His voice hurt me. I forced myself to pull my wrist from his grasp.

"I don't know what I believe anymore." With that I walked out of his room feeling horrible.

 **A/N: I am so sorry for this update taking so long! I went to the Cassandra Clare signing so that took a couple days out of writing time and then it was finals time so I had to focus on those. Expect chapters a little bit sooner for the next week or so because I'm on Spring Break now! And, as always, thanks for reading and please review! I love hearing your thoughts!**


	7. Chapter 7

I gripped my coffee cup staring idly at the empty chair across the table. It was the chair Sebastian had been sitting in not moments before. It was a few days after our confrontation. The two of us had eaten a silent breakfast together. No one else was awake, or at least no one else was in the kitchen yet. I made sure I had looked at anything but him. I still thought if I caught his pleading eyes I would spill the truth.

It had reminded me too much of the morning after our father had died. It had just been the two of us. Mom was dealing with funeral arrangements. I hadn't looked at him all breakfast. I saw too much of Dad in him.

"Morning," a voice said causing me to jump. The mug slipped from my grasp and shattered when it hit the table.

"I didn't realize my voice had such a heart-shattering effect," the voice said again. Jace. It was too early in the morning and I was in no mood to deal with him so I ignored him. "Don't cut yourself," he warned as I began to pick up the shards.

I sighed. "I'm a shadowhunter, I'm not going to cu-"

"You cut yourself didn't you?" He asked, humor in his voice.

"No," I lied throwing the shards away in the trash. I was getting a rag to wipe up the spilled coffee when he grabbed my arm.

He turned my hand towards him revealing a cut going across four of my fingers. The mug-shard hadn't been kind. I noticed him pulling out his stele. "I don't need-" but I was too late and he was already drawing the _iratze_ rune on my palm.

When he finished the rune glowed golden. The cut closed before the rune disappeared. I pulled my wrist out of his grasp and went back to wiping the table.

"Oh thank you Jace, for the wonderful _iratze_ that healed my cut," Jace mocked. "Oh, no, it was my pleasure."

"It was sloppy actually," I informed him. "And I can draw my own runes, thanks." I rinsed the towel off before laying it out to dry.

"Sloppy? It was not sloppy," Jace argued, seeming slightly offended.

"I guess the _great_ Jace Herondale can't be amazing at everything." I shrugged as I left the kitchen.

"Hey!" Izzy called out to me just as she rounded a corner. "I was just about to make breakfast, did you already eat?"

"Feel free to kill Jace with your cooking," I told her.

"I really hate that my own parabatai has no faith in my cooking skills," Izzy sighed.

"I really hate that my own parabatai decided to side with Jace over me," I retorted back at her.

"Clary...I thought we were past that," Izzy seemed slightly hurt.

I sighed. "Sorry, Izzy. We are, I know we have to do this to catch whoever is the actual killer. It's just...I hate it. I can't even look at Sebastian cause every time I do I see so much betrayal and hurt in his eyes. And Jace is a jerk."

"Oh Clary," she said, concerned. "I know. I can't even imagine what that feels like. Even thinking of having to do something like this to Alec...But I do agree with you. Jace is a jerk. If I poison him will that make you feel better?"

I smiled slightly. "Immensely so."

"Alright then." She walked past me into the kitchen. "Oh Jace! Are you hungry?" her voice carried. I heard Jace shout something as I smiled, walking down the hallway.

As I rounded the corner I ran into a wall. Actually it was just Alec but he was so tall he might as well be a wall. "Sorry," I told him.

"It's fine," he straightened out his jacket. I then noticed his attire was a little bit...dressed up.

"Where are you off to?" I questioned.

"Out," Alec said. "If Jace asks tell him I'll be back later." He then rushed past me. I shrugged. Alec and I had never been horribly close. I was just his sister's parabatai, nothing more. Of course he wouldn't tell me anything.

When I entered my room I found my brother sitting on my bed. "Sebastian please, I need to take a shower, Izzy and I-"

He cut me off, "Clary, please. You won't even look at me. Y-you're acting as if I'm a monster. I'm not. I'm your brother. I'm who I've always been Clary, I didn't do this."

I started to rummage through one of my drawers. Taking much longer than I needed to to grab a pair of jeans. "We found the fangs hidden in your room. I'm sorry Sebastian it's just the evidence-"

"What evidence?!" he snapped. "You found them in a spot I didn't even know existed! Someone is framing me, Clary! The other don't know me, I don't blame them for suspecting me but you...Clary. You're my sister. You're supposed to trust me." His voice was breaking. I stopped rummaging in my drawer but I didn't look at him. I was afraid if I did that I would see the look of his face and tell the truth.

"I'm sorry, Sebastian. I don't believe you," the words hurt coming out of my mouth. "When Jace found th-"

"Jace found them?" Sebastian stopped and then started laughing. "Of course Jace found them! Clary who's the one who's had it out for me since day one?"

The gears started turning in my head in a direction I did not want them to go. I finally turned to face my brother. "Jace wouldn't..." I trailed off. How well did I really know Jace Herondale? "He had an alibi at the party."

"Alec? I'd hardly count someone's own parabatai as an alibi. Izzy would lie for you in an instant." He was right, she had. There was one time when we were little when I got injured while we were training because I wanted to try something far more advanced then I should have. When my father came in to investigate the reason behind my crying Izzy had automatically lied and said it had been her fault.

"I..." I didn't know what I was going to say. I didn't want to accuse Jace. I was even more frustrated with myself because I didn't know why.

"Think about it Clary! How did he find the secret compartment? I've lived there for days and never noticed it! And he just happens to come across it being in the room for the first time?" As much as I hated to admit it...Sebastian was making sense. Jace was the one who orchestrated this entire thing, lying to Sebastian. What if he was the one trying to distract us?

"Who are you going to trust Clary? Your brother who's been there for you since day one or the blond jerk you've known for a week?" Sebastian asked.

That was it. I couldn't do this anymore. "You. I trust you, Sebastian. I'll always trust you. Just...play along. Don't let Jace know you suspect him. Let me talk to Izzy about this." (Oh thank gods)

"You can't tell Izzy," he told me.

"Why? She's my parabatai!"

"What else is she? She's practically Jace's sister. She'll protect him, you know she will."

"Sebastian! You obviously don't understand what parabatai means! If I truly believe something, she'll trust me." He had never had a parabatai. He didn't know what it meant, what it felt like.

"I'm just saying, Clary," he started. "Our only way to stay ahead of Jace may be if he doesn't know if we suspect him. Are you 100% sure Izzy won't go running to Jace?"

She wouldn't do that...would she? I hated doubting my parabatai but look how quick she was to jump onto Jace's idea?

"She's my parabatai, not yours," I informed him. "I'll decide if I tell her or not."

"Fine, Clary. I trust you. I know you'll do what you think is best," he passed me as he left the room.

I sighed as let his words roll through my mind. Did Jace really kill the vampire? Was he really trying to frame Sebastian and distract the rest of us? Could I trust Izzy not to tell him?

A knock at my door broke me out of my thoughts. "Clary, we need to talk."

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying the story! Don't forget to review! I love to hear your feedback 3 Also, do you think Jace did it? Or maybe Sebastian? Or someone not introduced yet? Or maybe Chariman Meow/Church murder duo? Let me know!**


	8. Chapter 8

"Clary, we need to talk."

I looked to the door to see my mother standing there. "Mom?" I questioned. We hadn't really spoken a lot since we arrived at the Institute, I had been too busy.

She was silent as she closed my door and motioned for me to sit on my bed next to her.

"Mom, what's going on? You're freaking me out," I told her. She was acting weird and she had an odd expression on her face.

"I'm going back to Idris."

"Wait, what? Mom, we just got here and-"

"Honey, this place, Institute life, it isn't for me," she explained. "Besides. Someone has to take over your father's position until a replacement can be found."

I couldn't believe what she was saying. Were we to pack up and move again? "But Mom! You expect me to leave after-"

She cut me off again. "No, Clary. You and Sebastian are staying. I know it's important for you to be here with Izzy. And Sebastian is doing great work with the Ascended here. There's no need for the two of you to come with me."

She was leaving us here? Not that I didn't want to stay here with Izzy but I never thought my mom would go home without us. (This is the paragraph I had to add to have a transition between the one before and after it, feel free to fix it up cause I'm not sure if it really fits either (it sounds fine to me))

Suddenly, I felt bad for Sebastian, he would want to go back with her. "Why don't you take Sebastian with you? Working at the institute was never his goal. He wanted to take Dad's job."

She sighed. "Sebastian is skilled, but he's young. Training the Ascended here is a lot different from in Idris. He needs time to grow up a little. I'm sure in a few years time whoever is in charge will be happy to welcome Sebastian on board, but for now his place is here."

Part of me was glad Sebastian was to stay here with me but the other part felt bad for him, still. I knew he would be mad about this.

"But, Mom," I started. "I'm going to miss you." I had never gone a day without seeing my mom. She had always been around for me.

"Oh, baby." She hugged me. "I'm going to miss you too, you and Sebastian both. But you can come visit anytime you like, or send a fire message."

I pulled back. "Thanks, Mom. It's just going to be weird without having you around."

"Believe me, it'll be even weirder for me."

Just then, Izzy barged into my room. "Clary! Are you ready to g-" she stopped realizing my mom was sitting there. "Oh, hi Jocelyn."

"Hello, Isabelle, were you two going somewhere? I don't want to keep you." My mom stood up off my bed.

"Mom it's-" I started.

"No, Clary, go have fun with Izzy, we can talk when you get back," my mom said as she started to walk from my room.

"Clary, hurry up and shower please. We have a schedule to keep," Izzy informed me and left the room before my mother did.

Mom paused at the doorway and turned back to me. "Clary?"

"Yeah?"

She looked like she was going to say something and then decided against it. "Have fun with Izzy," she repeated before leaving.

I shrugged as I got my clothes together and hopped in the shower.

Izzy was pulling me through dress shop after dress shop, trying to help me find something for tonight.

Every time I picked out a dress I kept hearing from her "not short enough...not enough cleavage...not

sexy enough" and sometimes she just shook her head and told me no.

I kept telling her Sebastian would have her head if she made me wear such a raunchy dress but she didn't really seem to care.

When I saw our time was almost up I grabbed a simple black spaghetti strap dress off the rack and ushered Izzy towards checkout, ignoring her complaints.

"You should really learn to drive," Izzy told me as we climbed into the car. "You're not in Idris anymore with no need for transportation. Come on, I'll even teach you." She started the engine and we began driving away from the dress shop.

"Thanks Izzy I-" the words were lost as Izzy suddenly slammed on the breaks and I lurched forward. Lucky thing I had my seatbelt on. "Izzy!" I exclaimed.

She ignored me, rolling down her window. "Alec!" She shouted. I realized that Alec was standing across the street, presumably coming back from wherever he had been before.

He noticed us and made his way over. He climbed in the backseat and Izzy turned around to face him.

"Where were you coming back from?" She questioned. Apparently she hadn't known where he went either.

"No where," Alec told her.

She rolled her eyes. "Always a mysterious big bro," she sighed as she started driving again.

"Clary you can't wear this," Alec said. I turned to realize he was referring to the dress I picked out.

"What? Why not? Izzy's is far worse than mine," I told him. Why was everybody trying to control what I wore?

"I gave up trying to stop Izzy from wearing anything years ago." I heard a snicker from my Parabatai.

"But I'm being serious. It's ripped."

"What!" I exclaimed. That must have been the reason it was on the clearance rack.

"Calm down, Clary," Izzy said to me. "I can fix it if it's not too big of problem."

"If your sewing skills are anything like your cooking, I'm afraid."

"Ha-ha." She didn't seem amused.

It was too big of a problem for Izzy to fix, or at least to fix in the small window of time we had. I wore another of Izzy's old dresses. I loved my Parabatai but her clothing style just wasn't me. That's why we went out looking for a dress.

I was at least glad it wasn't too tight fitting. I was able to strap a couple daggers to my thighs.

"You ready?" Izzy questioned and I buckled the strap on my shoes. Looking at her was almost like

looking at a different person.

I was used to seeing her with runes covering her body. The voyance rune on her hand, the Parabatai rune arching around her neck, the scars of long faded runes. But her skin was clear, no runes of any kind. She had covered them up with make-up, just like she had done mine. No one was going to mistake us for shadowhunters tonight.

"Yeah," I replied grabbing my purse. We walked out of my room to find Church sitting in the hallway.

"Meow," he said. It sounded as if he was bored. He turned and walked down the hallway.

Izzy and I followed him. He led us to the entryway where Jace was standing.

"Oh look, he found you. Good Church." He reached out to let the cat but Church hissed and swatted at his hand before turning tail and running off. "Demented cat." He glanced at the two of us. "The vampire is here."

I could feel Jace Herondale checking me out as we walked out the door of the Institute. I gripped one of the daggers and threw it backwards at him. I heard it sink into the wall neck to him.

"What the hell!" He shouted.

"Next time you're a perv I won't miss," I promised him. Izzy snickered.

"My, you two look ravishingly," Simon said as we stepped outside.

"I already threw one dagger at someone tonight, don't make me lose my second one too," I told Simon. I was on a short fuse today. After what my mom told me this morning and the agonizing hours shopping with Izzy for nothing I had just about had it.

"Forgive me, Clary, I'm a vampire, we have cravings." I couldn't tell if that was an apology or another attempt at flirting. I decided to ignore the comment all together.

"So how's this going to work?" I asked him.

"Ah, the orgy in Hoboken, yes," he started. "We're going to walk in and you two are going to pretend you're mundanes. Find out the information you need and get out before someone discovers that you're shadowhunters. That's it because I'll never hear the end of it from Raphael if he finds out that I let shadowhunters into a vampire party."

He started walking down the block, the two of us following him when he turned back. "Oh and as a reminder. If either of you kill a vampire tonight all bets are off. No one's going to hesitate to rip your delectable little throats out."

 **Author's Note: Hello all! It's been a bit since I updated, I'm sorry about that! Well that was the latest chapter, I hoped you enjoyed it! Sorry if the formatting is messed up, I don't really know what happened.**


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: A note before the story?! What is this? But seriously...Hope you're enjoying the story so far! There's so much more to tell so be sure to stick around! Don't forget to comment, I love hearing your thoughts! This chapter introduces a new character...I hope you enjoy him! Happy Reading!

My feet were already killing me and we hadn't even gotten to the party yet. Izzy had insisted that I wear these stupid heels. Thanks to knowing her my entire life, I could wear and even fight in heels. But this particular pair was new and I hadn't given the blood sacrifice to them yet.

We were still following Simon on the way to the party. Had I known it was this far I would have told Izzy that we should drive.

"So what did your mom want this morning?" Izzy suddenly questioned. It dawned on me that I hadn't told her yet. Between dress shopping and getting ready for tonight there hadn't really been time.

I sighed. "She's going back home, to Alicante."

"What? Why? You all just got here."

"She doesn't feel at home here. And she said someone had to take over training the Ascended in Idris now that Dad is gone," I explained.

"So I'm guessing that Sebastian is staying too then?"

I nodded. "Mom thought it would be best for him to wait until he's older to take over in Idris. She wants him to train here with your mom still."

"You know I don't see my mother much either," Simon intervened. "Last time I saw her she threw a Star of David at my head and kept calling me a monster." I had forgotten about the vamp hearing.

"Well you are a monster." I shrugged.

"Your words wound me, Clary," Simon said dramatically. "But stop all talk about Idris or Alicante or anything shadowhunter. We're here."

We were standing in front of a very high end hotel. Simon strode through the front door like he owned the place and Izzy and I followed.

We entered an elevator and Simon punched the button for the penthouse suite.

"This isn't the Hotel Dumort," Izzy realized. She had told me that was their base of operations.

"The Hotel Dumort? You think I'd bring the likes of you there? No." Simon seemed amused.

The elevator dinged open and the first thing I heard was the roar of dance music. Dozens of people were in the penthouse dancing, standing around enjoying drinks. Some vampires were even indulging in mundanes.

"You'll want to talk to Javier," Simon told us. "He was friends with the vampire who was killed. He likes redheads, he should tell you everything you want to know." With that he disappeared into the crowd.

"But who even is Javier? There's like a hundred people here," I sighed.

"We'll ask around, come on," Izzy told me and dragged me into the penthouse. She grabbed two glasses of champagne off a server and handed one to me. "Blend in."

Izzy took a sip of her glass while I stared at mine. I had had alcohol before, the occasional cup of wine, but I didn't like it much.

I suddenly felt fingers brushing the hair off my shoulder and I whipped around with shadowhunter speed. I wanted to grab my dagger and hold it to their throat but I resisted, clutching the glass of champagne tighter.

"Fast reflexes," the vampire said and I thought our cover was blown. "A nice quality." He twirled my red hair in his fingers. I resisted punching him in the face. "Name's Javier, what's your name, lovely?"

I put of my best fake smile. "Clary, and this is my friend, Izzy. Javier is such a...strong name." Yeah, I sucked at flirting.

Javier smiled. "You haven't touched your champagne, is something wrong with it?"

I glanced at the glass. "No," I replied and downed it. Okay, maybe not such a great idea. Did the champagne have to be blood flavored?

He leaned in and for a second I thought he was going to bite my neck but he whispered in my ear instead. "How does the blood of a mundane taste on your lips, shadowhunter?" How had he known?

He pulled away and Izzy caught my gaze. "He knows," I told her. I turned to Javier. "How?"

He laughed. "You don't blend in as well as you think. But it was the names that gave you away." He turned and motioned for us to follow him. I glanced at my Parabatai before we went off after him.

Javier lead us into an empty bedroom and closed the door, locking it. "Clary and Izzy. Clarissa Morgenstern and Isabelle Lightwood I presume."

"How did you know?" Izzy questioned. I was wondering the same thing.

"I knew your parents. I knew you two as infants," Javier explained. "I was part of the Circle."

"You were nephilim?" I had heard that a few shadowhunters had become vampires but it was extremely rare.

"Yes." He nodded. "Hodge Starkweather was my name."

"Hodge? But you died. The list of the dead at the Institute..." Izzy trailed off.

He laughed. "Leave it to them to let everyone think I'm actually dead. No, I was simply turned into an vampire. Against my will if I might add. It's probably a good thing I'm not actually dead. Who else would tell you about Miles?" I presumed that Miles was the vampire who was killed.

"Tell us what you know," I demanded.

"How about we make a deal?"

"We don't make deals with downworlders, you should know that," I informed him.

"Ah yes, I do know. And perhaps if the Institute had accepted the vampires' deal I wouldn't have been turned," Javier said.

"What is it you want?" Izzy asked.

"My belongings from the Institute," he said simply. "They wouldn't give me anything after I turned. Knowing the Institute they probably just threw them in storage somewhere."

"If we promise to find your belongings you'll tell us what you know?" He nodded. "Fine, it's a deal then."

He smiled. "Perfect. I was the one who identified Miles' murderer as a shadowhunter. I was also the last one to see Miles alive. We were at Magnus Bane's party when Miles went out the door with some mundane. I followed them because Miles had a tendency to overindulged at times. I controlled him. But somehow I lost them. I couldn't find where they went. It wasn't until it was nearing sunrise that someone found Miles' body in that warehouse."

"You said he left with a mundane?" I questioned.

Javier nodded. "I now presume it was the shadowhunter who killed him. He was dressed in head to toe, runes could have easily been hidden."

"Did you see what they looked like? What they were wearing?" I was looking for anything that could prove Sebastian's innocence...or criminalize Jace.

"It was dark," Javier explained. "I couldn't see much. He was wearing black clothes with a hood. All I could see was blond hair." That...that could describe either Jace or Sebastian. Both were wearing dark clothes that night, and both had blond hair. I glanced at Izzy. I had to tell her about Jace. She wouldn't say anything...would she?

"That's not all," he said. "There was a note, left with the body. I took it before anyone else saw."

"A note? What did it say?"

He shook his head. "No, you get the note when you deliver my belongings, we had a deal." I hadn't actually been planning on giving him his belongings, how irritating.

"Fine," Izzy said. "We'll get them to you. How about tomorrow night? At the warehouse where Miles was found."

"I'll be looking forward to it." Javier smiled. "Now you two best run along. It won't be long before someone else realizes who you really are."

As we were walking out the door Izzy paused and looked at the vampire. "Hodge? My parents used to speak of you with praise. I don't think it was their decision to shun you."

"Thank you, Isabelle." She nodded and we left the room.

As we were weaving our way through the party towards the elevator Simon caught my eye. He was talking to some blonde. I nodded at him as we entered the elevator.

"Did your parents really speak about Hodge with praise?" I asked her as we begin to walk away from the hotel. I wasn't sure if she had been telling the truth or just being nice to him.

"Yeah, actually," she said. "Anytime someone would speak of fallen shadowhunters they always mentioned him. Why? Your dad never did? They were all friends."

I shook my head. "My dad...he didn't like to dwell on the past. After something happened he rarely mentioned it again."

"SHADOWHUNTERS!" A voice pierced the air and my Parabatai and I whipped around. The blonde vampire was standing across the street at the hotel with about half of the party's vampires behind her. Simon was no where to be seen. "You killed him! You killed Javier!"


	10. Chapter 10

My hand flew to my dagger hidden under my dress. I wasn't exactly equipped to fight a vampire but it would have to do.

I didn't understand though, Javier was alive and well when we left him. Someone must have snuck in there right after we left and killed him.

"We didn't kill Javier!" I shouted across the street, trying to buy time. I had seen Izzy dialing a number behind her back on her phone. "He was alive when we left! It must have been someone else."

"Liar!" The blonde vampire hissed. "He had one of your runes on his chest! Just like Miles!"

Then...the killer had been at the party. Izzy and I probably walked right past him and didn't realize.

"You won't live to see this end of this night, shadowhunters!" The vampire threatened. "Attack!" The horde of vampire immediately descended upon us.

Wordlessly, Izzy and I turned and ran in the other direction. We weren't generally afraid to fight vampires, but there was just way too many of them for the two of us to take on alone.

"Clary," Izzy breathed and tossed me a wooden stake. I noticed that she also held one. She must have been hiding them under her dress or in her purse. Probably smarter than a dagger.

I could feel the vampires gaining on us, it wouldn't be long before we had to fight.

"Duck!" A voice shouted and Izzy and I did the sensible thing, we ducked. Half a second later a stake hurled over our heads, puncturing the front running vampire in the heart. As the vampire died the others halted.

As I got to my feet I noticed Jace standing before us. Of course, it had to be him. Izzy and I stood with him. The vampires had caught up now, there would be no more running away. The three of us would have to do.

Then, they charged. I struck the first one that lunged at me in the heart, ripping out the stake fast as another one came at me. I impaled that one as well.

"Where are Alec and Sebastian?" Izzy questioned Jace as she stabbed a vampire.

"On their way," he said as he threw a lighter at a vampire. It went up in flames and fortunately it was near two others and they lit up as well.

That was enough of a distraction to let us turn and run again. When Alec and Sebastian joined us, we would be able to take them.

Looking up ahead I noticed the institute wasn't far, a couple blocks at most. We were almost there. The vampires couldn't follow us inside and that also meant...

An arrow flew by me and pierced one of the vampires in the heart. Looking at the roof of the buildings I noticed Alec standing there with his bow.

"Clary!" Sebastian's voice shouted. My brother was running towards us. He held two blades in his hands, one shorter than the other.

I reached my hand out as he tossed me Heosphoros. I smiled as I gripped the hilt. Now we were talking.

The vampires descended upon us again and I slashed out at the nearest one with my blade. The vampire shrieked as the blade burned him. Heosphoros was an angelic blade, it burned vampires. It was enough to light the vampire up in flames.

"Clary!" Izzy shouted. She had lost her stake and was only fighting with her whip. Which was not doing her much good when faced with a horde of vampires.

She held a vampire off with her whip but another was descending fast upon her. I threw my last dagger and stake at the same time.

The silver dagger impaled itself in the vampire's shoulder. It wasn't the best shot I could have made but it served its purpose: distracting the vampire long enough for Izzy to kill him.

Izzy caught the stake and while the vampire was pulling out the dagger she stabbed him in the heart.

"Enough!" A voice shouted. The vampires all stopped. The five of us stopped as well, but we didn't put our weapons away, we were still ready.

Coming through the crowd was the blonde vampire from earlier. "You've killed enough of my kind, I'm putting a stop to this."

"What did you expect? You sent a horde after us. We're shadowhunters, of course we're going to fight," I told her.

"You have murdered two of mine in cold blood," the vampire replied. "I had every right to send my vampires after you."

"We didn't kill anybody!" I snapped. "Especially not Javier. He was helping us catch whoever killed Miles, giving us information."

"No? The two of you just happened to exit the same room that he was found dead in seconds later." Her reasoning did make a lot of sense...if I didn't know that Izzy and I didn't murder Javier.

"It had to be someone else," Izzy backed me up. "Someone slipped into the room after we left. Or was already in there."

"Why should I believe you? What have you shadowhunters ever brought us than death?" I didn't really have an answer for the vampire. All we really did was kill them. "I knew I never should have entrusted you shadowhunters in finding this killer when he is obviously one of your own."

"If the killer is a shadowhunter then it is our business to handle," Jace spoke up. "They will be punished according to Clave law."

The blond vampire narrowed her eyes. She was probably wondering if crossing the Clave was worth it or not. "You have two days. Find the killer within two days and you Nephilim may punish him as you see fit. If not...I will take matters into my own hands." Without waiting for an answer she turned and left the way she came, taking the surviving vampires with her. A few hissed at us as they passed but all followed.

I looked to the bodies of the fallen vampires, the ones who had not burned. I set to stabbing them with my blade. Burning the bodies was a lot easier than moving and burying them.

When I was finished I looked to Jace, he was lighting the last vampire with a seraph blade. Questions burned in my mind. The one at the forefront being, how had he gotten there so fast? He obviously hadn't been at the Institute like Alec and Sebastian were otherwise he would have arrived at the same time as them. Was he the one that killed Javier? Did he really kill Miles? Javier did say blond hair and a hood...Jace's jacket had a hood. It could just be coincidence but after my conversation with Sebastian I wasn't so sure.

"Who's checking who out now?" Jace smirked. I wanted to throw my other dagger at him but then remembered I had thrown it at the vampire in the fight.

"I'm not checking you out," I told him. "I was just wondering how you got there so fast."

Jace shrugged. "I was in the neighborhood when Izzy called. I tracked Izzy's phone and then called Alec for backup." I caught Sebastian's eye. He didn't seem convinced either. I knew he still suspected Jace.

"I think you all owe me an apology," my brother spoke up. "Obviously I didn't kill this Javier, ask Alec, I was at the Institute."

"I'm sorry, Sebastian, we never should have doubted you." I was happy when Izzy was the first to speak. Finally, she was backing me up in this.

Alec mumbled some sort of an apology but Jace remained silent until Izzy nudged him. "Fine, whatever, I'm sorry."

I simply smiled at Sebastian happy I didn't have to pretend to the others that I suspected him anymore. "Clary...aren't you going to apologize to your brother? I mean he is your own flesh and blood?" Jace commented...and I was caught. "Wait, you told him didn't you?"

"I-"

"I can't believe you!" He shouted. "We had a deal!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Sebastian asked confused. And of course he was, I had never told him we were only pretending to suspect him, as far as he knew I had really thought he was the murderer.

"Obviously we need to talk about whatever this is," Alec pointed out. "I know a place we can go, somewhere we won't be overheard."

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! Remember to Review!**


	11. Chapter 11

I wasn't surprised when Alec knocked on the door of Magnus Bane's loft. I guess a part of me knew this was where Alec was taking us, and also where he had been disappearing to.

"Alexander!" The High Warlock of Brooklyn exclaimed as he opened the door. His expression changed when he noticed the other four of us. "And you brought friends."

"Sorry Magnus but we needed somewhere where we could talk without being overhead," Alec said.

"This isn't the wayward home for Shadowhunters," Magnus sighed but stepped aside and let us in.

Jace mumbled something to his Parabatai but Alec brushed him off.

Magnus stopped us before we stopped on the carpet. "Shoes off, the five of you have so much blood and gore on you the least you can do is not to get it on my carpet," he demanded. "And don't sit down, anywhere."

I pulled the heels off my aching feet and sighed in relief. It felt good to have them off.

The warlock began to walk out of the room. "I know better than to get involved in shadowhunter business," he said. "I'll be feeding my cat." With that he was out of the room.

"Whats going on?" Sebastian asked.

Jace opened his mouth to explain but I cut him off. Sebastian was my brother, I should be the one to do this even if it was Jace's plan. "We devised a plan to make you think that we thought you killed the vampire. None of us ever thought you were the murderer."

"What?" He said in disbelief. "Why would you do that?" I looked at Jace, now it was his turn to speak.

"To throw the actual murderer off, to make him think that we had already caught you and weren't looking for him any longer," Jace explained.

"So you don't have any actual idea who the murderer is do you?" Sebastian asked. I could tell he was still angry but he was hiding it. I gave him a stern look, now was not the time to accuse Jace.

"How about one of the Ascended?" Jace asked.

Sebastian sighed. "We've already cleared them all, and besides they were all training with me at the Institute before you called, they couldn't have killed Javier."

"Clary," Izzy said to me. "What Javier said..."

"The note!" I exclaimed.

"What note?" Jace asked.

"Javier told us there was a note with the body, that he hid it. If we did a favor for him he would give us the note," I explained. I had completely forgotten. But it didn't matter now, Javier was dead.

"What was the favor?" Jace questioned. Did it really matter now?

"He wanted us to get his stuff from the Institute," Izzy explained. "He used to be a shadowhunter, Hodge Starkweather."

"Hodge?" Alec questioned having heard the name before. Izzy nodded.

"It doesn't matter anymore," I said. "Hodge, Javier, whoever is dead. We're not getting that note."

"Sure we are," Jace said with confidence. "We just have to find out where he lived, it's probably there somewhere."

"How do we know he hid the note at his place? He could have hidden it anywhere."

"We have to start somewhere." Jace shrugged.

"Guys, we're all ignoring a very obvious question here: why was Javier killed?" Sebastian pointed out.

"Why were Miles and the other fledglings killed?" Alec added. "We still don't know the reason for those kills either."

"The killer could have just been looking for an easy vampire to pick off," Izzy suggested. "Javier told us that he saw Miles leave with some boy. It's very possible the killer is the boy."

"Then we need to find that guy," Jace decided. "Did Javier give you any details?"

"He was wearing all black with a hood," I said.

"And blond hair," Izzy added.

"Sounds a whole lot like Sebastian," Jace decided.

"Sounds a whole lot like you," Sebastian retorted back. I realized that my brother wasn't accusing Jace, he was just making a point. "Anybody could be the blond in the hood, that doesn't exactly narrow it down."

"It does, actually," Alec said. "No one else is a blond at the institute so no one there could have done it."

"But to hide the vampire fangs in Sebastian's room they would have to be a shadowhunter in order to entire the Institute, or at least uninvited," I pointed out.

"This is going nowhere," Izzy sighed. "We just keep going round in circles."

"I might be able to help," Magnus announced strolling back into the room.

"I thought you didn't get involved in shadowhunter business," Jace remarked.

"For the right price I will," the warlock said. "I know the location of Javeir's apartment."

"What do you want?"

"An afternoon with Alec." Magnus was smiling.

"Why do you always need my Parabatai?" Jace questioned.

"Virgin shadowhunter blood, I told you."

"Take Clary then, she's never had a boy-" In an instant I had my sword at Jace's throat. That got him to shut up.

"Complete that sentence and it'll be the last thing you say," I warned him.

"Ah, young love," Magnus sighed. I relaxed my grip for a second and it allowed Jace to take a couple steps back. "But still no killing in my house."

"Guys stop," Alec said. "I'll do it, whatever."

"Perfect," Magnus was smiling again. He conjured a piece of paper out of thin air. As I took it from his hands he said, "I expect to see you tomorrow afternoon." He was looking at Alec.

When we were leaving Magnus' loft I decided to not even put my heels back on. My feet still ached and I knew putting them on would only worsen the feeling.

As my feet touched the sidewalk I felt something pierce the bottom of my foot, a piece of glass. I winced slightly as I pulled it out.

"Clary!" Izzy exclaimed cause the others to stop walking.

"I'm fine," I told her. It was just a little cut, I would be alright until we got back to the Institute.

"You should have put your shoes back on," she told me as she pulled her stele out of her bag.

"They hurt my feet," I admitted. "I don't know how you're still wearing yours."

The pain subsided as she drew an iratez on my feet. "Beauty is pain," she said. "There, now put your shoes back on before you step on anything else."

"I can't believe you just needed an iratez on your feet," Jace mocked.

I was in the process of buckling on one the heels so I held the other one up towards him heel first. "Do you wanna wear these and try? Or maybe I should just shove this up your ass instead."

"Aright guys, jeeze, calm down," Alec mediated.

I begrudgingly put the heel that should be up Jace's ass on then Izzy and I followed after the others.

The five of us had decided to check out Javier's apartment in the morning. It was late and we all needed to get cleaned up and rest. Time was of the essence but we wouldn't be any good investigating if we fell asleep on our feet from exhaustion.

I was towel drying my hair the next morning when there was a knock at my door. "Come in!" I shouted.

Sebastian entered my room, closing the door behind him. Looking at him, I knew what this was going to be about.

"The evidence keeps piling up around Jace," he said quietly. "Blond, hooded, and he was already out last night."

"We need to keep our minds open," I told him. "It still might not be him, and if we just accuse him we'll probably miss important details or misanalyze evidence."

"I know, Clary," he said. "But you still agree with me? There's a big chance that it's Jace?"

I nodded. I would suspect Jace until his innocence was proven, he was too shady and there were too many coincidences with him.

Sebastian lingered in my room. "What?" I asked.

"Did Mom talk to you?" He asked, I nodded. Apparently our mom had had the same talk with him. "She's leaving tomorrow."

"I know. It'll be weird not having her here," I said. But maybe it was for the better; we were wrapped up in this investigation and I don't think I would have the heart to lie to her if she asked what was going on. Izzy and Alec were already lying to their parents and Izzy told me it was hard.

"She doesn't trust me to teach the Ascended in Idris," Sebastian said.

"She told you that?"

"No, but it was between the lines."

"Sebastian, you're just too young. Mom thought you needed more experience before you took over what Dad did." That's what Mom had told me anyway.

"Dad didn't think I was too young," he argued. "He wanted me to start working with him when I turned 18, as a partner." I hadn't know that, no one had ever mentioned it to me.

"Mom isn't Dad-"

"Exactly, that's why she needs me to help her." It seemed like Sebastian had made up his mind.

"Sebastian, you're needed here," I told him. "I need you here." The two of us had always been together, with Mom leaving I wasn't sure if I would take Sebastian's absence as well.

He sighed and I knew that I had won. "Fine, Clary, I'll stay here. But as soon as we figure all this out...no promises."

If that was all I was going to get I would take it. "Alright then."

"Clary!" Izzy's voice shouted before my Parabatai entered the room. "We have to go! Alec and Jace left already!"

"What!" I shouted. I glanced to my side table where the piece of paper with the address had been last night. It was gone. One of the others must've came in my room last night and taken it. Luckily, I had committed it to memory.

Throwing my damp hair in a pony tail I shoved my feet into my boots before Sebastian and I ran after Izzy out of the Institute. There was no way I was going to let Jace get there first, because a part of me felt like he was going to sabotage the evidence.

 **Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Wow! This story has gotten over 2,500 views on here and 600 on wattpad! Thanks for reading guys and don't forget to review! Also who's the killer? Jace? Sebastian somehow? Let me know what you think!**


	12. Chapter 12

"How long ago did they leave?" I asked Izzy as we climbed into the car. Apparently Jace didn't know how to drive so him and Alec had elected to walk there.

"Like thirty minutes ago!" She started up the engine and started driving away from the institute. "Alec and I were having breakfast in the kitchen when Jace came in saying he needed my brother for something. I tried looking for them when I was finished eating but I found my mom instead and she said they had already left."

"Why would they leave without us? It doesn't make sense," I wondered.

"Jace likes to take the lead on things," Izzy told me. "He probably just wants to find the note first to rub it in all of our faces."

"There might be an-" Sebastian started but I screamed at Izzy. She had just ran a red light.

I held onto the handle bar. "Izzy, getting us pulled over or killed isn't going to get us there any faster."

"Yeah, yeah," she said but I don't think she was really listening to me.

I held on for dear life until we reached the apartment complex that the address led us to.

And I climbed out of the car I noticed a familiar blond about to enter the building. "Jace!" I shouted.

He stopped and started making his way over to us. Alec followed.

"Why the hell would you leave without us?" I asked him. I wanted to hear what his explanation was.

Jace shrugged. "You guys were taking too long to get ready. I didn't want to wait."

"You know we all agreed to leave at 10 not 830 in the morning," I informed him.

"Yeah well, the early bird catches the worm, or in this case the note," he said.

"Come on guys," Alec intervened. "Let's go inside. Bickering out here isn't going to help anything."

Oh Alec, he was always the mediator between us. I'm sure if he wasn't here I probably would have killed Jace by now.

The five of us made our way into the building and up to the second floor where Javier's apartment was located.

I tried the knob on Javier's unit. It was locked, of course. Making sure there was no one else in the hall, I drew an opening rune in the door. The lock clicked open and the five of us quickly entered.

The apartment was pitch black. I found a light switch and turned it on. The windows had been blacked out, that's why we couldn't see. I realized that the apartment was also a mess. Clothes, empty blood bags, and trash littered the floor.

"How are we ever going to find anything in this mess?" Sebastian wondered. "The note could be anywhere."

"Then we search everywhere," I told them. "Izzy and I will take the bedroom." The two of us left the rest of the apartment up to the boys.

Ironically, the bedroom wasn't as messy. There were only some clothes on the grand and an unmade bed.

The two of us began to move through the room, opening drawers and looking inside the pockets of his jeans. I threw the already looked through clothes into a pile when I was done with them so we wouldn't get them mixed up.

Izzy and I had almost gone through the entire room and came up with nothing. From the sound of it, it didn't seem like the others were having much luck either.

Suddenly, I had an idea. I walked over to the bed and lifted up the mattress. "Izzy!" I called as I noticed a piece of paper hidden underneath it. She fetched the note and I let the mattress fall back onto the boxspring.

When I looked at my Parabatai I noticed her face had gone white. "Izzy? What is it?" Instead of speaking she handed me the note.

I nearly dropped it when I saw what was written:

 _The Morning Stars_

 _Will go out..._

 _One by one_

There was no signature just the words and the same angelic rune from Miles' body drawn below.

Morning Star...that was what Morgenstern meant. And this cryptic note just after my father...it had to be connected.

"Clary-" Izzy started but I shook my head and walked out of the room. I found Sebastian going through the kitchen cabinets and handed him the note.

"No," he tried to laugh it off. "This is a joke, it has to be." His train of thought was the same as my own. "But Mom said Dad's death was an accident. A hunt gone wrong."

"Mom lied," I told him. "Our father was murdered. Murdered by the same person who's been killing these vampires."

"What are you guys talking about?" Jace asked. Sebastian reluctantly handed him the note. Alec leaned over his parabatai's shoulder to read it.

"I don't see how this has anything to do with you two and your father," Jace said.

"Jace, you may be my Parabatai but you're an idiot," Alec told him. "Morgenstern means Morning Star." He took the note out of the blond's grasp and handed it back to me.

"So this person, whoever they are, is gunning for you two?" Jace asked.

"Seems so," I said. I couldn't understand why. Our family didn't have enemies. We helped Ascended, we trained new shadowhunters. Who would want to stop that?

"It makes sense that they would hide the vampire fangs in Sebastian's room then," Alec put two and two together. "Trying to frame him."

"And killing Javier and trying to frame me," I said. It made sense now. The killer hadn't wanted to stop us from finding the note, he just wanted the vampires to turn against us. Maybe have them do the dirty work for him.

"But why, why frame us? Why target our family in the first place," Sebastian wondered.

"I don't know," I said, feeling the fire flame up inside me. "But what I do know is that Mom lied to us and I intend to find out why." I shoved the note in my pocket and made my way out the door.

I was halfway to the door leading stairwell when one of other apartment's door opened. Out stepped a blue eyed boy with brown hair. "What were you doing in Javier's apartment?" He said.

"We're his friends," I lied. "He asked us to pick something up for him."

"Javier doesn't have friends," the boy said. "And he never brings anyone home." This neighbor was getting annoying. I was beginning to regret that we hadn't glamoured ourselves. "Tell me who you are!" I realized he was holding a knife out at me.

"Who are you?" I retorted back. A concerned neighbor would not go to these lengths. The knife didn't scare me. I could disarm him before he moved a muscle.

"I don't think you're in the position to be asking these questions," he said referring to the knife. Was he really so dumb to realize there was five of us versus him?

I sighed and disarmed him of the knife hitting him in the nose with the hilt of it for good measure. "Let's go," I told the others.

"Clary!" Izzy exclaimed.

"What? He was annoying and I didn't have time for that."

"I'm calling the cops!" The boy shouted as we entered the stairway. Let him. The cops couldn't do anything to us.

"I'm so glad that you were there to disarm that situation Clarissa you sure handled it with poise and grace on a mundie," Jace snarked at me as we were leaving the building.

"Honestly you can go fuck a stick, Jonathon, and I recommend you go do that before I shove one up your ass for you," I retorted, I swear I was actually going to kill him someday.

"Well that's kinky," he threw a wink my way then did the smartest thing he has ever done and left as the rest of us got in the car claiming running would do him good and he couldn't afford to be lazy like the rest of us.

"Mom!" I shouted as soon as I entered the Institute. I began going from room to room, Sebastian following me. I had wanted Izzy to come with, she was my Parabatai after all, but she said this was a family matter. Something I needed to deal with alone.

I finally found her in the sitting room talking with Maryse. "Mom!" I shouted. Something in my eyes must have made the head of the Institute realize that we needed privacy because she quietly excused herself and left the room.

"Clary, we were talking ab-"

"Why did you lie to us? Why didn't you tell us that Dad was murdered?!" I was furious. I had the right to know.

"How did you find out? Jace told you didn't he?" She sighed. Jace knew? Why on earth did Jace know.

"What? Why would you tell Jace and not tell your own children that their father was murdered," I spat.

"Jace overheard Maryse and I talking about it," my mom admitted. "I asked him not to mention anything. If Jace didn't tell you how did you find out?"

"It doesn't matter how we found out!" Sebastian shouted. "What matters is that you lied to us. You made us believe that Dad was killed in the line of duty, a noble shadowhunter death, not murdered in cold blood."

My mom sighed and motioned for us to sit down. We didn't budge; I crossed my arms. "I was trying to protect you two," she told us. "I'm sure you remember that day."

I remembered that day perfectly. Izzy had came out the night before and the three of us work up early in the morning to spend the day in Alicante. We went shopping, met some friends, and had lunch and dinner out. We hadn't returned home until late. That was when Mom told us what had happened: Dad went out on a mission. It went wrong. He was killed. I had never gotten to say goodbye. He was still sleeping when we left that morning.

"I was gone most of the day, I was visiting the Penhallows," Mom said. "And when I came home I found your father. There was no trail, no clues to who had done it. I decided it was best to fabricate the truth to you two instead of have you wonder who killed him for the rest of your lives."

"You had no right!" I told her. "He's our father. We deserved to know the truth." Now that I knew he was killed inside the house, I knew it was definitely a shadowhunter who had done all this. Our house was completely warded. No downworlder or demon could enter.

"I'm sorry, Clary, Sebastian," she said. "I really am. You'll understand one day, when you're a parent you do what you think is the right thing for your children."

"Well it wasn't the right thing," I retorted before turning and walking out of the room. Sebastian was on my heels after me. I didn't care that she was leaving tomorrow anymore, I didn't care that she would leave with this sour mood between the three of us. It was her fault.

I threw the training room door open. I had heard Jace mention to Alec that they should do some training once they got back. Sure enough, they were practicing with seraph blades.

The two boys looked at us as we entered. Without warning I lashed out and kicked Jace square in the chest. He wasn't expecting it and fell to the ground where I pinned him. In my hand I was still clutching the knife from Javier's neighbor.

"Kinky," Jace had the nerve to say. Again. "I didn't think you were this type of girl Clarissa." I gripped the dagger and punched him in the face.

"Ow!" Jace yelled. "What was that for? You're going to ruin my face. Wait! Alec! Where are you going!" He struggled to get up but I held him down.

"I don't know what you did Jace, but you're on your own." Alec left the room. It was just the three of us now.

I gripped his shirt tighter. "You knew about our father being murdered. You knew and you didn't tell us."

"I was trying to protect you," Jace said. I stood up off of him, letting him get up.

"Why is everyone trying to protect us?" I was sick and tired of it. We were trained shadowhunters, we could protect ourselves.

"I think a crazy murderer trying to kill your family is reason enough," Jace figured.

"You found that out today and besides that would be even more reason to tell us," I pointed out. "Why have you been lying to us for days?"

Jace sighed. "I didn't want you two to experience what I had to." Was Jace Herondale actually showing compassion? Was I dreaming?

"Your parents died in a fire. They weren't exactly murdered." Everyone knew the story, the Herondale manor had gone up in flames. Jace was the only survivor.

"It was arson. Somebody deliberately set it on fire. That's what the public doesn't know," Jace said.

Three murders in Idris? Could this be a coincidence?

 **A/N: Here's a long chapter for you! Hope you enjoyed it! Lots of stuff happened didn't it? Who's gunning for the Morgensterns?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: I'm am very sorry for not uploading. I haven't had much time to write recently. I've been studying for midterms and other college crap and above all, moving. I finally moved into my own apartment but sadly there's no wifi as of yet. That's why it's taken me some time to upload this chapter even though I've had it done for a few days. Hopefully I get some wifi in the next few days or weeks so I can upload more. Anyway, here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!**

"Clary!" Izzy was calling my name. I ignored her, I was ignoring everybody. I was taking my emotions out by sketching before I went and killed somebody, preferably Jace. Although I'm not too sure that would be a bad thing.

My Parabatai barged into my room. "Clary! I've been calling you for like five minutes."

"I heard," I said as I scratched the pencil across the paper.

Before I could protest, Izzy took the sketch pad and pencil out of my hands. "What's going on with you? You don't do this, not to me."

I sighed. "Gee, I don't know Izzy. I mean I just found out my father has been murdered and not only did my mother keep it a secret, no, Jace heard apparently and didn't tell me the truth either."

She sat down on the bed next to me. "Why does that make you so upset?"

"Because everybody's excuse is that they're trying to protect me. I don't want to be protected, I don't need to be protected. I can protect myself."

"Clary...I hate to point out the obvious but your father was murdered. The same person is going after you and your brother. You know your father was much more skilled them you. What makes you think that you can take this killer when your father couldn't?" Izzy asked. And then I realized something, she was scared for me. She was scared that something would happen to me.

"Izzy, you're not going to lose me," I promised her.

"You don't know that," she said. "I can see the grief my dad feels when he looks at his faded Parabatai rune. If that became me I don't think I could survive it."

"Izzy," I started and grasped her hands. "You're strong. Probably a lot stronger then me. Don't you ever say things like that. I'm not going to die. We're going to find this bastard and turn him over to the Clave." I wanted nothing more than to kill him. But that wouldn't solve anything; no, he had to be put on trial in front of the Clave.

Izzy gripped my hands. I noticed that her eyes were watery. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen Izzy cry.

"You two are so sappy," a voice sighed entering the room. I hadn't realized Izzy left the door open.

"Izzy can I please have my pencil back so I can kill Jace with it?"

"You know normally I would try to stop you but this time I agree." Izzy handed me back my pencil.

Jace held up his hands. "Woah! I think you've wounded me enough today."

Izzy suddenly started laughing. "Wait, you did that Clary?" She asked referring to Jace's black eye. "I love you so much more."

I grinned at Izzy. It had felt good punching Jace earlier. I turned to the blonde. "What do you want?"

"We're going to Magnus' house. Alec thinks that he might be able to do a spell that can tell us who wrote the note," Jace explained.

"Why are you telling us?" Last time he left without us.

"For one you have the note," Jace pointed out. I realized that it was still folded up inside my pocket. "And two Alec won't let me leave without the two of you."

I got off my bed and crossed the room towards Jace and the door. "Wow, Alec really has you whipped, doesn't he?" I snickered as I passed him. I could hear my parabatai's laugh and for once Jace didn't have some snarky comeback.

The four of us made our way to Magnus Bane's loft once again. Sebastian wasn't with us. He had to train the Ascended.

"Why are we always coming here?" I wondered aloud to Izzy. Alec and Jace were walking up ahead.

"He's the only warlock in Brooklyn," Izzy said. "We need him.."

"Izzy," I said. She seemed to be holding something back.

"I'll tell you when we get home," she promised. I sighed, that was all I was going to get out of her for now.

We rounded the corner and climbed the steps to Magnus' loft. Alec had called him before we left so he was actually expecting us this time.

As always, Magnus seemed most excited to see Alec but far less enthusiastic to see the rest of us. Nonetheless, he waved us inside.

"You shadowhunters seem to me taking me for granted," the warlock started. "I'll require payment for this."

"I thought Alec's virgin shadowhunter blood was enough? If you need more Clar-" I stomped Jace's foot with my boot. That got him to shut up.

"No, the payment I require is a play date with Alexander." Seeing the confusion of our faces he cleared his throat. "I mean I want Alec to bring your cat for a play date with Chairman Meow. Church is it?"

"Done," I said before anybody else could speak. Yeah, I hated throwing Alec to the wolves, or the warlock in this case, all the time but he didn't really seem to mind.

Magnus grinned. "Perfect, now where is this note? I'll do what I can."

I fished the note out of my pocket and handed it to Magnus. "Do what you can? You said you could tell us who wrote the note," Jace argued.

"I told Alec that I might be able to tell him who wrote the note," Magnus clarified. "Magic is a tricky business. You don't always get the results you desire."

Jace grumbled as the warlock read the words on the note. He glanced at me when he was done. "Someone really has it out for your family don't they?"

"Yeah well they've already murdered my father so I would appreciate it if you could just tell us about the note," I snapped. I didn't want to talk about that any longer.

"You're feisty," Magnus noted. "I like you." He inspected the note before handing it back to me. "I can't tell you much. But what I can tell you is that the rune on that page is older than the writing, much older. And it looks like it was ripped from a notebook."

"That's all you can tell us?" Alec questioned.

"It's hard to tell anything else. Perhaps if it was written with some magical ink, sent through a fire message, or even in the presence of a magical object when written it would be easier to tell you more. But there's simply nothing else to tell about that note," Magnus explained.

"Thanks for trying Magnus," I told him folding the note back up and slipping it inside my pocket.

I felt something scrape across my leg and I glanced down to see a cat rubbing it's head against it. I bent down and scratched the cat behind its ears. Chairman Meow - I presumed - purred.

"I'll say this only because Chairman Meow has taken a liking to you," Magnus started. "You should be careful. They've been able to kill dozens of vampires already without being detected. And your father who I heard was a great shadowhunter."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of Clarissa here," Jace had the nerve to say.

Instead of retorting I turned to Izzy. "Can I borrow your whip? I need to tie Jace up and throw him in the ocean."

"You wanna tie me up?" Jace winked. "Kinky."

Fed up, I shoved the Herondale roughly into the wall. A painting almost fell off. "Watch it!" Magnus shouted. "It costs more than all the treasures in the institute!"

"Getting rough are we? I'm down for it." He was smirking that perfect smile that made me want to punch all of his perfect little teeth out.

"Stop antagonizing me!" I shouted at him. "I have enough crap to deal with without you making sarcastic comments!"

"I live to annoy you," Jace pushed. "You're such an easy target, Clarissa."

My mind flashed back to a day many years ago when my father had said the exact same words to me...

"You're such an easy target, Clarissa!" My father reprimanded. "You must always be on guard! One day I might not be there to protect you. You have to be able to stand on your own."

I pulled out my blade and pointed it towards Jace. "Shut up!"

"Clary," my Parabatai said softly, I only half heard her.

I gripped the hilt with my hand. And then...the blade was gone. It disappeared.

"This is a tad heavier then I thought it was going to be," Magnus noticed. I turned towards him, he was holding my blade in his hands. "No killing in my house remember?"

I lunged towards Magnus. "Give it back!" No one took Heosphoros from me. One again the blade disappeared.

"You can have it back when I say so," Magnus said. "Maybe if you had asked nicely I would have given it back."

I wanted to attack Magnus. I need Heosphoros back. But I didn't have any weapons and even if I did they wouldn't so much against a warlock.

"It's just a blade isn't it? Perhaps a little more ornamental than most but I'm sure you have loads at the Institute," Magnus assumed. He didn't know, he didn't know how much that sword meant to me.

Sighing defiantly I turned and walked out of his loft. Here I was thinking Magnus was different. But no, he was a warlock, one who liked to trick and deceive. Who knows if he was even telling the truth about the note?

"Clary!" A voice shouted. I didn't need to turn to see that it was Izzy running towards me. She pressed the hilt of a blade into my hands. "I got it back, I explained to Magnus-"

I sheathed the blade. "Thanks Izzy," I said. I glanced at her. She looked like she wanted to say something. "What?"

"What happened in there Clary?" She questioned. "You were almost like a different person."

I laughed slightly. "Really? I was just playing around. I would never actually hurt Jace. Besides a punch or something."

Isabelle shook her head. "Clary, I could feel it. You wanted to hurt Jace and you would have had Magnus not stopped you."

"Whatever." I waved my hand at her.

"Hey!" Izzy shouted and grabbed my wrist, stopping me from walking. "I know you've been through so much crap in the last month, too much for anyone to deal with but I'm your Parabatai! I know you better than you know yourself Clary. Something is the matter with you and I don't see why you can't just talk to me about it."

I ripped my wrist from her grasp. "I'm fine Izzy! By the Angel! Just leave me alone for once!" I started walking faster back towards the institute. Izzy didn't follow.


	14. Chapter 14

" _Clary!" A voice shouted to me. "Clary, wake up!" I opened my eyes to see my brother standing before me. His green eyes were wide and boyish. His hair was long, longer than I had seen it in a long time. Sebastian was seven, I knew because that was the year he wouldn't let my mother cut his hair. "Father's home!"_

 _I remembered this. Father had left on a mission a week ago. I didn't know what it entailed, I was only six at the time. He returned in the middle of the night; Sebastian had been the first of us to find out he was home; he had tried to climb into our mother's bed after a nightmare only to find our Father sleeping there as well._

 _I jumped out of bed and followed my brother as we ran into the kitchen where my parents had now gotten up and were beginning to make breakfast together._

 _"Daddy!" I squealed as I ran towards him. He knelt down and I flung myself into his arms._

 _"Clarissa." He smiled as he held me close._

 _"I missed you, Daddy," I said. As a little girl I was so attached to my father._

 _He kissed my forehead. "I missed you too, Clarissa. You've been a good girl for your mother, haven't you?" I nodded excitedly. I knew what was coming._

 _I stood back from my father as he stood up to rummage through his bag on the counter. He handed Sebastian and I both a box. Our father always brought back presents for the two of us when he went on extended missions._

 _Sebastian opened his first. Inside was a book, a big, fresh new book. "Wow," my brother said in amazement. It was a book on heroes of all kinds, mythological ones like King Arthur and real mundanes as well. Sebastian had a fascination with heroes when he was a child._

 _Inside my box was another small porcelain box. Carefully, I opened it and a soft chime of music came out. Closing the box, I found that the music stopped. I opened it again to let the entire tune play._

 _"It's what mundanes call a music box," my father explained. The music stopped. "Just turn the dial on the side here and-" he turned it a couple of times and the music began again._

 _"Thank you, Daddy!" I exclaimed. It had to have been my favorite thing my father ever bought for me._

 _There was a knock at the door. My mother opened it to find little Isabelle standing there. "Clary! Sebastian!" Her child-like voice squeaked. "Are you ready to go?"_

 _I was confused, this isn't what happened that day. The four of us had spent the day together, Izzy had never shown up._

 _I set the music box down on the counter and looked to my mother as she spoke. She suddenly looked ten years older. "Of course! You three were going to Alicante today weren't you?"_

 _"That's right!" Izzy said. I looked at her. She was sixteen again. "We're meeting Mark and Helen, they're visiting relatives."_

 _"Well have fun you three," my mom ushered us out the door. I barely even had a chance to glance at my father as the door shut behind me._

 _I turned and reopened the door, suddenly finding it dark inside the house. It was nighttime now. I turned on the lights and screamed._

 _My father lay dead and bloody on the floor. I backed up into somebody. Turning, I noticed it was Izzy._

 _"The Morning Stars will go out...one by one," she said. But it wasn't her voice. It was a deep, dark voice. Almost one of a demon. Her lips curled into a wicked smile. "One down, three to go."_

 _Suddenly there was a knife in her hands. She stabbed Sebastian in the throat. Blood splattered, and he fell down, choking on his own blood. It was over in a few seconds._

 _"Two," Izzy counted._

 _I heard footsteps as my mother walked into the room. I wanted to scream at her to leave but no sound left my mouth._

 _Izzy's whip curled around my mother's neck, choking her. With brutal strength, Isabelle flung my mother across the room. I heard a sickening crack and she hit the floor._

 _"One left." Izzy was smiling. "Poor little girl, I thought you could protect yourself? How can you do that when you just let me kill your entire family?"_

 _I had been screaming at myself to move but I stood frozen in the same place. I couldn't even scream._

 _Izzy walked up to me a whispered in my ear with the dark, cold voice. "You're weak. Always have been, always will be. And that's why you're going to die." She plunged the bloody dagger into my chest._

I woke with a start in cold sweat. It was just a dream, a nightmare. It hadn't been the first since my father died but I had been the first in a few days at least.

I pulled my knees to my chest, expecting my door to open any second. Izzy always knew when something was wrong.

The longer I stared at my door, the longer it became evident that she wasn't coming. I regretted yelling at her, I had regretted it the second the words left my mouth. Izzy and I didn't fight. We were always on the same page. Since my father's death something had shifted between us.

I glanced at the clock. It was three am. But there was no way I was going back to sleep. A part of me felt like I would slip back into that nightmare.

I dressed and quietly made my way to the training room, using a witch stone as my guide. I closed the door behind me and began sparring with a punching bag.

I punched the bag wrong and cursed as pain flared in my hand.

"That looks like it hurts," a voice said from the doorway. He was lucky I had decided not to practice my dagger throwing.

"You don't want to mess with me right now," I warned him. I was not in the mood to talk to anyone, much less Jace Herondale. Why else was I sparring in the training room at 3am?

"I think I do," Jace pushed. "Messing with you is always fun."

"Leave me the fuck alone, Jace," I told him.

He was steadily making his way towards me so that now he was standing a few feet away. "What's wrong? Little girl had a bad dream?"

I threw my hand at him in a punch but he caught my wrist. I tried with my other hand and he caught that one as well.

"Clary," he said. I struggled to get my wrists out of his grasp. "Clary, stop."

I tasted salt and realized that I was crying. By the Angel, I just had to cry in front of Jace of all people. But I had reached my breaking point.

I was too weak to protest as Jace pulled me closer to him. Close enough that my tears wet the soft fabric of his shirt.

"I know what you're going through, Clary," he said softly. "I lost my parents too, I was alone. You feel alone but you have so many people. Your mom, Sebastian, Izzy. God, what I would have killed to have known Alec like I do now when I was ten. You have people that care about you. You just have to let him."

"I hate you," I told him.

"I know." I could practically feel him smirking. I pulled back a small amount, just enough that I could see the smirk on his face and I stared at his golden eyes. Then, they got closer and closer to me.

I didn't have time to comprehend anything because the next second Jace was kissing me. And for some reason I was kissing him back.

 **Author's Note: I'm back! Sorry for not updating! College has sucked all the time out of my life but I'm finally on summer break so expect updates more frequently! Two more chapters are already done and edited so I'll be posting those soon.**

 **What do you guys feel about the Clace? Do you like it? I wasn't so sure on putting it in or not and then this chapter just kinda happened. Let me know! And thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

I was kissing Jace Herondale and I didn't know why. My brain wasn't working. All I knew was his lips were on mine, and his arms were holding me close.

I shifted my hand as it kneaded into his shirt. Pain flared and I remembered that I had hurt it hitting the punching bag.

The gears started turning in my head and I pulled away from Jace. "I-I can't do this," I announced. "Not with you." I shook my head before quickly exiting the room.

"Clary!" Jace called softly after me, careful not to wake the rest of the institute. But, I ignored him.

Somehow I found my way to my room in the dark, I had forgotten the witch light in the training room. I paused, glancing at Izzy's closed door but decided against it and entered my room.

I closed and locked the door behind me. I needed a cold shower.

Even though it was only 5am when I got out of the shower I found my Parabatai sitting on my bed. I forgot she had a key to my room.

"I'm sorry, Clary," she said even though she had nothing to apologize for. "I hate fighting with you."

I sat down on the bed next to her. "You have nothing to apologize for, Izzy," I told her. "This is all my fault. I've been lashing out, I know. I'm sorry. Even everything that's happened doesn't give me the excuse to treat you like I have been. You're my Parabatai, always and forever."

Izzy smiled. "I'm glad to see you've come to your senses. Did a good night's sleep do all that?"

I wasn't planning on telling her about anything, about the nightmare or about Jace...but she was my Parabatai.

"Jace actually did," I told her.

"Jace?" She questioned. "Since when are you having midnight rendezvous with Jace?"

"He kissed me," I blurted out.

Izzy started at me. She didn't speak, just stared. She seemed to be in shock. In all honesty if someone would have told me yesterday that I was going to kiss Jace back I would have called them crazy.

I waved my hand in front of her face. "Izzy!"

"Sorry," she said. "Just...uhm. I mean I love Jace and all, he's like a brother to me, but you hate him."

"I know," I explained. I didn't even know why I kissed him back in the first place.

Izzy shook her head. "You're confusing, Clary."

"I'm confused myself," I admitted.

"So how was it?" Izzy questioned.

"How was what?"

Izzy stared at me for a second. I stared back. "God, the kiss, Clary; how was the kiss?"

I felt my cheeks turn pink. "Oh...well..."

"Nu-uh, you're not getting out of this! It was your first kiss, I want to hear all about it," she demanded.

"You just told me Jace is like your brother. It'd weird to be telling you," I told her. It was like telling me about a kiss with Sebastian.

"Like my brother, he isn't actually so it's not that weird." Izzy shrugged. "It'd only be awkward if you told me about a kiss with Alec, cause one gross and two that would just never happen."

"Geez Izzy, I mean I'm not exactly the type of girl who goes around kissing every boy I see but it's nice to know that Alec is out of my league."

Izzy started laughing. I stared at her. What was she laughing about? "Clary! No, you can have any guy you want, no one's too good for you. If anything you're too good for any guy."

"Then what's the problem?" I asked. It wasn't like I wanted to kiss Alec anyway. He had practically been like another brother to me my entire life. But, I wanted to know what caused Izzy to make a comment like that.

"Clary...Alec's gay, you know that right?"

"What?!" I exclaimed a little too loudly. I mean, I had had my suspicions but I never knew for sure. "Since when?"

"Since always I guess." Izzy shrugged again. "I mean he's never told me flat out that he's gay but it's pretty obvious."

Thinking about it, it was very plain to see that Alec was gay. He had never shown an interest in any girl I had ever seen. And then there was that one magazine I saw when he visited once...

"And I'm pretty sure he's seeing Magnus," she told me.

"Now that one I believe. No warlock needs that much virgin shadowhunter blood, if that is even a thing because it sounds like a lie."

Izzy smirked. "I think that ship sailed anyhow."

"Geez, okay I didn't really need to know that Alec lost his virginity, that's okay," I sighed. "Like I wouldn't want to know when Sebastian loses his either."

Izzy blinked. I could tell that there was something she wasn't telling me. I stared at her with a knowing look. "You know Sebastian isn't a virgin, right?"

"Wait, what? When? How?" I realize I had just said I didn't want to know but a part of me was mad that I was left out of the loop on things.

"Like six months ago, I don't know," Izzy told me. "Do you really think he was going to tell his little sister about it? Like, Alec wouldn't tell me, I know. But Sebastian needed someone to talk to and I was there."

"It's just...so weird," I paused. "Okay new subject please. I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Today's the last day to find the killer," Izzy pointed out. "The vampire said two days. Yesterday was one and if we don't find the vampire by midnight tonight..."

"The vampires will take it into their own hands. They'll kill any shadowhunter they see for revenge," I finished for her. It would be a bloodbath.

Izzy sighed. "What are we going to do? We're no closer to finding the killer then we were two days ago."

"Maybe..." I paused for a second. "Maybe we should talk to your parents about Hodge. Maybe they know something that can help us. It's a shot in the dark, I know but it's all we got right now."

Izzy shook her head. "I've got something better. His death report. It should list everything about him, and the specific circumstances of his death. Maybe there's something in there. There's only one problem...it's under lock and key in my Dad's office. We can't get to it. And if we're trying to keep this whole thing under wraps we can't ask my Dad for it."

I sighed. "Unfortunately I think I know somebody who can help."

I paced back and forth in my room, waiting. Izzy stared at me.

"Clary, stop pacing, it's giving me anxiety," she sighed.

I paused. "Sorry, it's just, he's been gone for too long."

"How did you even know Jace would be able to steal the report?"

"I don't know what you know but his parent's death wasn't an accident," I told her. "It was arson. They wouldn't have told a ten-year-old boy that. He would have had to steal his parent's report in the first place in order to know."

"That...that makes sense." Izzy nodded.

My door suddenly opened and Jace slipped into the room. I hated that my eyes slipped to his lips. It was there first time I had seen him since we kissed. I had made Izzy go and tell him to get Hodge's death report.

"Almost got caught my Robert," Jace announced closing the door and locking it behind him. "But I got it." He held up a manila folder.

We locked eyes for a second as he handed it to me. I turned my gaze towards the folder. I began reading about the night of his death.

"All lies..." Izzy mumbled over my shoulder. "Everything my parents told me about Hodge's death were all lies."

The folder suddenly fell from my hands. I knew how to find out who the killer was, I just needed to find Hodge's things.

 **Author's Note: How'd you like the chapter? What do you think Clary knows? Thanks for reading! I'll update with the next chapter in the next couple days!**


	16. Chapter 16

"Clary!" Izzy and Jace were calling my name and running after me.

I only stopped because I realized I didn't actually know where I was going. Where would Hodge's things be stored?

Izzy caught her breath as she caught up to me. "Where are you going?!"

"I actually don't know," I admitted. "Where would Hodge's stuff be at?"

"Why do you need Hodge's stuff?" Jace questioned. So he hadn't looked at the report. Only Izzy had been peering over my shoulder.

"The basement, come on!" Izzy exclaimed. She seemed to be catching on to my train of thought.

Reaching the door of the basement the three of us descended down the steps into the darkness. Izzy found a light switch and light illuminated the room.

Boxes, boxes and more boxes were cluttering the basement. "How are we ever going to find it in here?" I sighed beginning to shift through boxes. Luckily, I found they were labeled.

"What are we even doing here? Someone care to explain?" Jace wondered. I ignored him, scanning the rows and rows of boxes.

"Clary! Over here!" Izzy called from the other side of the basement. I ran over to her to see that she was standing in front of a few boxes labeled 'HODGE STARKWEATHER.'

I opened the boxes and began going through the contents rapidly. Where was it?

Then, my fingers closed around something leather and I smiled pulling out the leather-bound notebook.

"What?!" I yelled as I flipped through it. The notebook was empty. Most of the pages had been torn out. The only ones left inside were blank. I sighed, dropping the notebook back into the box. "We were so close."

"I still don't understand what's going on," Jace announced.

"The report said that the only reason Hodge was attacked by vampire was because he was trying to protect a mundane family," I told him. "The family, they were raising a shadowhunter baby."

"I still don't see what this has to do with anything."

"After he was turned, he told the institute that he had known about the child for a while, he was watching over it making sure it was safe," I explained. "All the information about the child was in his notebook. When the Institute shunned him he told them the baby was dead and that was the end of the report."

"So you wanted to find information about this baby why...? It doesn't matter if the baby is dead." Jace wasn't getting it.

"Hodge wanted this notebook; that's why the deal he made with us was to get his belongings. Obviously there's something he didn't want the Institute- or anybody- to know in that notebook," I said. But it didn't matter now, there was nothing inside anyway.

"And he's dead...what if he died because of what was inside of the notebook?" Jace asked.

"Wow, why didn't I think of that?" I said sarcastically. That was the first thing I thought when I read the report.

"Clary!" Izzy exclaimed and I glanced at her. She was holding the notebook open to a ripped page.

"Wait." I grabbed the note that was still in my jeans pocket. It fit the ripped page perfectly. "The note came from this notebook. Or at least the paper."

"And probably the rune too," Jace pointed out. "Magnus did say that the rune was much older than the text. That notebook's at least 15 years old."

"So...the killer stole whatever was in the notebook and then used that ripped page to write the note," I concluded.

"It makes sense because we already know the killer's a shadowhunter," Izzy said. "They had to be one to get in here uninvited and hide the fangs in Sebastian's room anyhow, even if you don't look at the rest of the evidence."

"We need to regroup," Jace said. "We need to tell Alec and Sebastian. Maybe Magnus can do something about finding the pages if he has the notebook."

Sebastian complained when I pulled him out of bed at 5 in the morning but the five of us were up and in my room once again.

The report was passed around along with the empty notebook and the note.

"Magnus isn't going to want to do us another favor," Alec said.

"You already have to take Church there on a play date," Jace reminded him. "We'll just tag along and see what he says."

"He's going to want payment this time. Probably something more than a cat play date."

"Then we'll pay it. We need to know who the killer is," I said. "We only have until midnight to find out unless we want to leave it up to the vampires."

"Guys?" Sebastian questioned and we all turned to him. "If the killer came into the institute to steal the pages from the notebook...why did he just leave the notebook? Why wouldn't he take it all with him?"

It was something that hadn't crossed my mind. Simply taking the notebook would have been easier than ripping all the pages out. It's not like anyone would have noticed it was missing anyway.

"The notebooks probably a dead-end then," I sighed. "He wants us wasting our time trying to figure out where the pages are instead of looking for him."

"Then what do we do?" Izzy asked. "We don't exactly have a lot of time. Less than 24 hours."

"If only someone saw something at the party where Hodge was killed...anything could lead us to the killer," I sighed. Here we were, going back around in circles.

"Do you guys think it's time to bring our parents into the loop on this?" Alec questioned.

"No," the four of us said at the same time.

"We can do this ourselves, Alec," Izzy told her brother. "Clary, how about we go talk to Simon? He might know something."

"If you had a way to contact him that would be great," I told her.

"I wouldn't bring it up if I didn't," Izzy said. "I had Magnus give me his address last time we were over there." Leave it up to her to want that vampire's address.

I sighed. "Okay then Izzy and I can go find Simon. Alec might as well ask Magnus about the notebook when he takes Church, it can't hurt."

"I'll go back to where Miles was killed. Maybe we missed something there," Sebastian said. "And then Hodge's apartment."

"I'll come with you two," Jace said to Izzy and I. "In case you need help dealing with the blood-sucker."

"No, you're going with Alec on the off chance that the notebook does lead to something," I told him. "Izzy and I can handle Simon by ourselves."

My parabatai and I set out straight for Simon's, not caring about how early it was. Time was of the essence here.

Arriving at the address that Magnus had given Izzy we knocked on the door. There was no answer. Ignoring the vampire's privacy, I drew an opening rune on the door and it clicked open.

The apartment was dark inside, pitch black. I pulled out my witchlight; it illuminated the room just enough so I could see where I was going.

Izzy and I soundlessly made our way to the bedroom and quietly pushed the door open. There was a form sleeping on the bed.

I walked over to the window and peeled the curtain back just enough that a small stream of light hit Simon. The vampire was instantly awoken and he hissed, darting out of the way of the beam of light.

I set the curtain back in place and Izzy turned on the lights so we could see clearly.

"Izzy? Clary? What are you two doing here?" Simon questioned.

"We need your help," I spoke quickly before Izzy could. We didn't have time for her to flirt with the vampire.

"Oh no," Simon said. "I'm done helping the likes of you. If Camille even finds out I'm talking to you she'll make me think the punishment I received after letting you into the party was a vacation."

"Camille?"

"You met her. The blonde bitch who's in charge," Simon explained to us. It didn't seem like he liked her much either. "Now get out. I would like to not be tortured twice in the same week."

"We can't leave," Izzy spoke. "Not until you help us. I'm sure you heard but Camille gave us two days to find the killer until she takes matters into her own hands. The deadline's tonight."

"If we can't find the killer you know what will happen: an all-out war between the shadowhunters and the vampires. I'm sure neither of us want that," I said.

Simon stared at us for a moment before sighing. "I don't know what exactly you want me to help you with. It's not like I know who the killer is or anything."

"The party that you took us to," I started. "After we left the room that Javier was in did you see anything?"

"I didn't even see you two leave the room. All I heard was someone screaming that Javier was dead and then Camille was on me demanding why I let you two in," Simon explained.

"How was Javier killed?" I asked. We had never actually heard.

"Stake to the heart." Simon shrugged. "That's what I heard anyhow. I don't see why that helps you though."

"He wasn't killed the same way as Miles. A shadowhunter didn't have to kill him." The gears were turning in my head.

"Does that matter, Clary? We already know that the killer's a shadowhunter," Izzy said. She wasn't catching on. Granted, my idea was a long shot.

"We've been presuming this entire time that Miles' killer was there was the party, that they slipped into the room after we left and killed Javier," I said. "What if he wasn't there? What if a vampire killed Javier, a vampire who's working with the killer, trying to throw the rest of the vamps against us?"

"It was Camille," Simon said. "Camille found his body. She told me so when she attacked me."

"Clary, how exactly did you come to this conclusion?" Izzy asked.

"The simple fact that there wasn't enough time. How did Camille know we were shadowhunters? Our runes were covered, no weapons in sight. Just finding a dead Javier doesn't mean a shadowhunter did it, for all Camille could have known we could have been one of those crazy vampire hunting mundanes," I explained. "It should have taken her time to figure out who we were and who brought us to the party but she attacked Simon an instant later and was chasing us as soon as we left the hotel. If she's working with the killer I'm sure she knows exactly who we are and she's the one who killed Javier."

"Why would Camille do that though?" Izzy questioned. "If she knows who the killer is she's letting him kill her vampires."

"A few sacrifices mean nothing if she means to wage a war with us."

"Camille's always hated shadowhunters," Simon pointed out. "I don't put any of this past her."

"Maybe we don't have to find the killer today," I thought aloud. "Maybe we can just kill Camille instead."

"Killing her is easier said than done," Simon pointed out. "I've seen dozens try. They always end up with their head ripped off."

"Yeah well, Izzy and I aren't exactly a couple of scrawny vampires. We can take her."

"And Camille isn't just any vampire," Simon told me. "She's old, older than most. With age comes power."

"We're going to have to try," I said. "We're not getting any closer to finding the killer."

"There might be another way," Simon said. "I could go to Camille, tell her what you two told me: that she's working with the killer. Tell her I want in on the plan. And when she admits that she's actually working with him and killing fellow vampires I'll have the entire clan hear. They'll run her out of town."

"Is that actually going to work?" Izzy asked. "You don't seem like the evil type, Simon."

"I'm plenty evil, I'm a vampire after all."


	17. Chapter 17

I had wanted to go right to Camille and put the plan in action but Izzy reminded me of one fact: my mother was leaving today. I'd at least be proper and see her off. Even though I was still mad at her for lying to me, it didn't change the fact that she is my mother.

Simon said he wasn't putting the plan into action until sunset anyway. That's when the most vampires would be at Hotel Dumort to hear Camille's betrayal.

Izzy and I collected Sebastian from the crime scene; he had found nothing new. We decided to leave Alec and Jace at Magnus's loft. Magnus probably wouldn't let Alec go and I didn't want to deal with Jace but Izzy sent them a text letting them know what was going on.

Imagine my surprise when the three of us returned to the institute to see Magnus and the pair of Parabatai there as well. I had forgotten that Magnus had to create the portal back to Idris for my mother.

I couldn't help but laughing when I noticed scratch marks on Jace's arms and neck, no doubt from Church.

"Yeah, laugh it up." Jace didn't seem to be very happy about it. "That cat's psychotic."

"Church just doesn't like you," Magnus said. "You should have let me put him in the cat carrier."

"Church doesn't like anybody, Magnus," Izzy spoke up. "I'm surprised he didn't kill your cat."

"Oh on the contrary," the warlock said. "Church adores me. I'm the one who brought him to New York after all."

"Wait what?" Izzy asked.

"A story for another day, my dear," Magnus said and my mother strode into the room. She was carrying two suitcases. That's all she had brought with her from Idris. I wondered if she had been thinking about leaving the entire time.

I reluctantly made my way over to her and gave her a hug. "I love you, Clary," she said quietly. I pulled away but didn't say anything. She hugged Sebastian in the same awkward manner.

"Are you ready?" Magnus asked Jocelyn. My mother nodded and he conjured up a portal. She looked back at Sebastian and me before stepping through. In an instant she was gone. The portal closed thereafter leaving the group of us standing there.

"Hey!" A voice yelled coming into the room. "You're Magic Cane or something right?" I looked over and noticed it was one of the Ascended. I think his name was Jake.

"Magnus Bane," the warlock corrected.

"Yeah, whatever," Jake said. "If I paid you could you do a spell or something?"

Sebastian hit him on the back of the head. "Knock it off! You can't just ask the High Warlock of Brooklyn to do a spell for you."

"It's refreshing to know that you are aware of my title," Magnus noted. "But no, I will not do a spell for you. I can't have you shadowhunters monopolizing my service." He turned to look at the rest of us. "That goes for you too. It's not fair to the downworlders. Some of them already get in my hair about working with you at all." He looked at Alec. "Alexander, I am sorry."

"Magnus! Wait!" Alec followed after the warlock as he left the institute.

"Thanks a lot, Jake," Sebastian sighed.

"What did I do?"

My brother sighed. "Forget it. Come on, you were supposed to be in training like ten minutes ago. I wonder what Maryse is going to say..."

The two boys' voices trailed off as they walked down the corridor. Leaving Jace, Izzy and I.

"So when do we leave for the confrontation tonight?" Jace questioned.

"You're not going," I told him. Before he could argue I spoke again. "It's going to be hard enough for Simon to sneak Izzy and me inside Hotel Dumort. We can't have a trigger happy shadowhunter with us too."

"Trigger happy? I'm not-"

"Sure you aren't, Jace," Izzy said. "How many times have you attacked demons before Alec and I were ready?"

"We can't risk the plan because you decide to flip out and kill some vampires," I told him.

Jace crossed his arms, obviously not happy with the plan. "Then at least let Alec and I follow after Camille. If the vampires really do chase her away she'll probably run towards the killer if she's really working with him. She could lead us straight to him."

I opened my mouth to reply to him when Robert walked into the room. "Could the three of you come with me please?"

I glanced sideways at Izzy but she looked just as confused as me. What did he want? He couldn't know about what we were doing could he?

He led us into his study where there was a map of New York City across the wall. Some points on the map had a thumbtack in them.

"There's been some demonic activity reports recently that need to be dealt with," Robert explained. "Here, here and here." He pointed to three red thumbtacks on the map. "Your objective is simple: go in and kill the demons. I want this done tonight."

Tonight...we had the thing with Simon tonight. But how could we tell him that?

"I'm sure you're about to tell me that you're busy or something," Robert seemed to read our minds. "Yes, I've noticed the five of you gallivanting across the city getting in to the Angel knows 're teenagers, I would expect nothing less. Whatever you have been doing, I don't care, but you're shadowhunters first and foremost and it is your calling to defend the world from demons. So fighting demons is what you'll be doing tonight."

I sighed. Our plan was blown. I could only hope that Simon could handle this by himself. Izzy and I were supposed to be there in case anything went wrong. We couldn't lose Simon. He had helped us too much.

"Sebastian will take three of the Ascended and compromise the demons here." Robert pointed to the first tack. "Maryse will be taking the remaining of them here." He pointed at the second. "You three and Alec will kill the demons here." He pointed at the last. "Any questions?"

•••

"Why can't I come?" Max complained. "I wanna fight demons too."

We were taking weapon inventory on the kitchen table. Max was assisting us but he kept asking questions about the mission.

"You're too young, Max," Izzy told him counting seraph blades. "We've got six unnamed ones between the five of us. Five that have been used before."

Max opened his mouth to complain again but Sebastian stepped in. "You have to stay here with your Dad, Max. You know why?"

"Because Izzy said I'm too young."

"No, that's not it. You have to protect the institute. If something tries to break in you gotta fight it," my brother told him. "You're the most important part of this whole operation."

"Really?"

"Really." Sebastian smiled. It was a smile I hadn't seen from him in a long time. Max's face lit up.

"I gotta go find my dad! We need to go over plans to fight off the bad guys!" Max ran off through the halls of the Institute.

Izzy shook her head and laughed. "I don't know how you're so good with him."

"Yeah how come he likes you so much? Why not me?" I questioned.

"He likes you just as well as me, Clary," Sebastian tried to tell me.

"That's so not true. Remember last summer? When we had the barbecue at the manor house? He stomped on my foot and then ran away screaming for no reason," I told him. "And he's paid next to no attention to me since we arrived here."

Sebastian chuckled. "Maybe he just identifies with me more cause I'm a guy."

Izzy's phone chimed. "That's Simon. He's at Dumort. He's setting everything up."

"Estimated time?" I asked.

"An hour? Maybe more. It's not quite dark yet, some of the vampires aren't up," she said.

I sighed setting down a couple arrows. "This better work. Otherwise these demons won't be the only thing we're fighting tonight."

 **Author's Note: Thanks for reading! This chapter took a little longer than I meant to to post it because I kept forgetting so sorry! Who's excited the see Clizzy fight demons next chapter? Me! Next chapter should be up within the next couple of days!**


	18. Chapter 18

"You're doing great, Clary," Izzy assured me. If I wasn't too busy concentrating I would have told her the opposite. "Just press gently..."

I slammed on the brakes. Or at least I hadn't meant to, the car just slowed down quicker than I had anticipated.

"Can I get out?" Jace asked from the backseat.

"No," the three of us said at once. As much as I hated to admit it we needed Jace there when we fought the demons and we couldn't wait for him to walk. We were already running late as it was.

"The light's green now, Clary, you can go," Izzy instructed me. But I couldn't moved. I was petrified. Fighting demons? Easy. Driving a car in traffic? Hard. I kept thinking the two other cars on the street were gonna swerve and hit me. "Clary-" she started to say but the car behind me honked. It terrified me so much I smashed my foot to the gas pedal.

"Clary!" Izzy yelled. "Slow down!"

"I'd like to give my seraph blade collection to Max-" I heard Jace start saying.

"What are you doing?" Alec questioned him.

"Verbalizing my will," he explained. "Chances are at least one of us will survive the car crash that's bound to happen."

"Slow down!" Izzy repeated, more urgent this time. There was a turn coming.

"Oh great Raziel please take pity on my soul..." Jace's prayer was lost when the tires started to screech. I had slammed on the brakes.

As the car stopped the engine started sparking and smoke began to rise.

"It's not the worst way to go-" Alec pulled Jace out of the car, cutting him off. Izzy and I had already gotten outside.

The car exploded.

I shielded my face as I rolled backwards, away from the blast. I was glad I was wearing gear. Any normal clothes would be gone by now.

I looked at what was left of the sad car. The frame mostly and it was still on fire.

"We should..."

"Go, yeah sounds like a plan," I finished Izzy's sentence and the four of us sprinted away from the burning car. Looking towards Alec and Jace I was glad that the older boy had had the sense to grab the weapons bag before the car exploded.

Luckily, due to my sudden burst of speed, we were already close to the abandoned building where the demons had been reported.

Slowing to a stop outside, I panted and pulled out my stele. "C'mon Izzy," I told her. Runes drawn by Parabatai were stronger than any other.

Izzy rolled up her sleeve and I began to draw runes on her. Silence. Night Vision. Endurance. Speed. I glanced at Alec and Jace, they were doing the same thing. Except for the fact that Alec was drawing on Jace's chest. I forced myself to refocus on drawing the runes on Izzy.

When I was done my Parabatai took out her stele and drew the same runes on me. We could have drawn them at the institute but the fresher they were, the better they worked.

As she finished I rolled down my sleeve. "Did your dad give any indication as to what type of demons they were?"

"Nope," Izzy said. "No one was able to pinpoint the type."

"Amazing, so we're going in blind," I sighed. I would have liked to be prepared. Glancing at the building I found it to be two stories. "Izzy and I will take the upstairs, you two can take downstairs."

"Are we really going to listen to the girl who just blew up the car?" Jace questioned. "No, you two can have downstairs. Alec and I are taking up."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

Stealthily, the four of us entered the building. Alec and Jace found the stairwell quickly and they were gone.

I glanced at Izzy. This was our first real mission together. I was going to make sure it turned out alright.

The two of us began making our way through the building room by room. At one point this place was probably a hotel or apartment complex but since then most of the walls and doors had been broken down.

I froze as something creaked behind us. I glanced at Izzy and she nodded. Slowly, we made our way towards the sound.

Behind some debris a black figure leapt out at us. Izzy was faster that me and had her whip around its neck before I even had Heosphoros unsheathed. She threw the little devil to the side as we heard cackling behind us. And I meant little devil- it was an imp demon. They looked like tiny versions of the devil, with tail and all.

"Clary..." Izzy said.

"Yup," I replied wielding my sword in front of us. From the sound of laughter there were dozens of them.

I heard a crash upstairs and an inhuman screech. It seemed that the boys had found some imps of their own upstairs.

The demons didn't give a warning before they leapt at us. I swung my blade in an arc slicing through three of them. I wished that was even a fraction of them.

Izzy had caught one in her whip and swung the imp into several others, knocking them to the side mid leap.

I noticed a shape moving towards her back. I kicked off from the ground and sliced at the figure before it even got an inch closer to my Parabatai.

"Now might be a good time to use a seraph blade," I told her. I knew how much she loved her whip but there were times when you just needed a blade in your hand instead.

"Yeah, yeah," Izzy said as she curled up her whip on her wrist and pulled out a seraph blade. She whispered it's name to it just as a demon lunged at her. My Parabatai swung out the blade slicing the imp in half.

"How many more of them do you think there are?" I asked Izzy. I was covered in sweat and demon dust. I think my shoulder was bleeding from where an imp had scratched me.

"A few dozen more perhaps." Izzy shrugged as she kicked an imp.

Suddenly there was a loud creak above us and the ceiling caved in. A large figure dropped with the ceiling debris.

"Alec!" Izzy yelled, slicing through demons as she made her way towards her brother.

"I'm okay!" I heard Alec's voice say.

I was too busy to hear the rest of their conversation as two imps lunged at me. I ducked, letting them collide with each other and then swung my sword in an arc to kill them both.

"Stay down!" A voice screamed as a dagger flew over my head. It collided with an imp lunging for me. Rising up, carefully, I turned to notice it was Jace who had thrown the dagger. He must had jumped down when Alec fell through the ceiling. "You owe me one." He smirked. I don't know how Jace had time to be a sarcastic ass during a demon fight.

I glared at him. I didn't want to owe Jace Herondale anything. But I didn't have time to argue with him. We still had dozens of demons to fight.

The demons kept coming at us. We kept attacking and killing. By night's end I was coated in a layer of blood, sweat and dust. I was exhausted but we had won. All the demons had been killed.

We escaped with only handful of minor injuries. My shoulder had long since clotted. Alec was limping from his fall through the ceiling. Izzy's hand was bleeding from claw marks. Jace was perfectly fine as far as I could tell. Damn him.

Walking outside the building I remembered that the car had blown up. We had no way of getting home but to walk. Alec was the only one who had brought his phone and he had broken it during he fall.

"Clary!" Izzy suddenly screeched. Before I could comprehend what was happening sharp nails held me by the shoulders.

"It's all your fault!" I heard Camille's voice hiss. Something sharp punctured my neck and I could feel the blood draining out of me.

I thought I heard Jace shouting at Camille but I was losing consciousness, so I wasn't sure what was real and what was not.

The pressure was suddenly released from my neck. I tried to catch myself while I fell but my limbs were too weak.

Strong arms caught me before I hit the ground. I heard a whisper of my name before everything went black.

 **Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Camille's going crazy! Haha XD Anyway thanks for reading and I'll post the next chapter soon!**


	19. Chapter 19

When I opened my eyes I found that I was in the infirmary. I knew because of the arched ceilings with magnificent murals before my eyes. I had been enthralled by them when Izzy had first shown me around.

"Clary!" A voice yelled and I grunted as the full force of my Parabatai landed on top of me.

"Can't breathe," I gasped. She released me and apologized. "What happened?" I asked. All I remembered was fighting the imp demons and then...

"Camille showed up as we left the building. She bit you. Clary, she took so much blood from you I thought you were dead," Izzy explained. I remembered now. Vampire fangs hurt.

I gripped Izzy's hand. "I wouldn't die that easily. I told you I'm not going to die and I intent to keep my word."

Izzy smiled. "Oh! But Simon! The plan worked. Camille admitted to be working with the killer. The vampires chased her away. Raphael and Simon are in charge now."

I had figured that by how mad Camille had seemed during our confrontation. I glanced around the infirmary to find that Izzy and I were the only ones. Had no one else really not gotten hurt during the missions?

"How long was I out?" I asked Izzy. She pursed her lips. "Izzy."

"Three days," she finally said. Did I hear her right? How had I been out for three whole days? "You lost a lot of blood," she seemed to read my mind. "Your shoulder wound was deep and had been bleeding the entire time. And Camille nearly took everything else that was left."

I sighed. Three whole days gone. I had a million questions to ask her, but I settled on just one: "How did the other missions go?"

"Good, fine," Izzy said. "A few injuries of course but no one died or anything."

I sensed that she was holding something back. "Izzy," I said.

"I'm not supposed to tell you until you're at full strength-"

"Izzy!"

"Sebastian's missing," she blurted out. What?

I stared at her. "What do you mean missing?"

"I mean exactly what I said. He returned from the mission fine and everything but the next morning he was no where to be found," Izzy explained. "He hasn't came back since and no one can find him."

I had been wondering why Sebastian wasn't at my bedside waiting for me to wake up. "That doesn't...that doesn't make any sense. He wouldn't just leave."

"I don't know, Clary," Izzy sighed. "When he returned from the mission...he wasn't himself. I-I thought it was because you were out cold and he was worried but now I don't know."

Whatever Izzy said I knew my brother. He wouldn't just up and leave for no reason.

"That's not it." By the Angel there was more? "The car, you didn't cause it to blow up." Well, that was a relief. "There was evidence of a bomb in the wreckage."

"A bomb? But who would-" Izzy's look caused me to stop talking. "No, Izzy, no."

"We've discussed this-"

"We've discussed pretending that he was the killer! Not that he actually was or had anything to do with the killer!" I yelled. I wouldn't let anybody believe that Sebastian had anything to do with this. He wouldn't.

"Clary, my parents think-"

"You brought your parents into this? What happened to us not telling them? We were handling things fine on our own." I was mad. First Izzy suspects Sebastian of putting the bomb in the car and now she told her parents everything when we agreed not to?

"We had to! They needed a justified reason why the former leader of the vampires nearly killed you! And when Sebastian went missing...it only made sense to tell them everything."

I kicked the blankets off and prepare to get out of the bed. Izzy stopped me. "Izzy! Let me go! None of you seem to believe in Sebastian's innocence so I'm going to have to prove it!"

"Clary! I'm sorry but the facts add up! Why else was he acting shady after the car explosion? Why would he just disappear like he did?"

"Sebastian would never work with someone who killed our father!" I shouted and pushed past her out of the bed. "Did you ever think maybe he was acting off because he had just gotten back from his first real mission? That he was scared to death that I was going to die?"

"Clary, could you just calm down? I can hear you across the Institute, shouting like that," Jace said from the doorway.

I looked at him with blind rage. "And you! I bet you were the first one to accuse Sebastian! God! I can't believe you." I looked at Izzy. "I can't believe any of you!"

"I haven't accused him of anything!" Jace raised his voice. "I've been out there day and night searching for him trying to prove what I knew you would think: that he's innocent."

I was dumbfounded. Jace had been trying to find Sebastian? He hadn't jumped to the conclusion that he was or had anything to do with the killer?

"Clary, if you would've just calmed down I would have explained," Izzy said softly. "None of us want to believe that Sebastian is anything more than he seems. Alec's been begging Magnus to do locater spell after locator spell for him. Jace has been searching for him. Hell, even Simon has been looking." Izzy's contribution went without saying. I knew she had been by my bedside for the past three days.

"I-I'm sorry," I said. It had been easy to believe they wouldn't think Sebastian was innocent. I couldn't believe even Jace was trying to prove he wasn't involved.

Jace looked at me for a moment before turning and walking off down the hallway. For once I think I had hurt his feelings.

Izzy laughed slightly. "He looked like a wounded puppy."

"I didn't mean to," I told her. "It was easy to jump to the conclusion that he would be the first to think Sebastian wasn't innocent."

"Yeah, well, Jace will do anything for those he cares about," Izzy told me. "Even if it means going against all his instincts to prove that someone's brother isn't what they seem to be."

"I should go talk to him. I didn't know-"

"You should get changed first," Izzy interrupted me. I realized I was wearing a hospital gown. "And then I'll tell you where he went because I think I know."

•••

"Jace?" I called as I stepped into the room. I was hit with the strong scent of flowers and plants. It made sense, I was in the greenhouse.

Hearing no response I ventured further inside in awe of all the flowers around. I hadn't seen most of these since Idris.

"Clary." I whirled my head and noticed Jace sitting on a bench in the middle of the greenhouse. He had a book on the bench next to him: 'A Tale of Two Cities.' It looked like an old copy. "What are you doing here?"

"Izzy told me where to find you," I told him. "I wanted to apologize...again."

"No, it's fine," he said. "I had no right to believe that you wouldn't think straight away that I wanted to accuse Sebastian. I haven't exactly been friendly."

I stared at him. He seemed...different. I didn't know if I liked it or not.

I decided to change the subject. "I never even knew this place was here. Izzy didn't show me when she gave me the tour."

"Izzy and Alec don't like it much up here," Jace told me. "They don't get the awe of it."

"But you do?"

"It reminds me of home." I could relate with him there. It smelled like Idris in here. "My personal favorite..." He nodded towards a particular flower.

I laughed slightly. I knew that one. "Midnight flowers," I said. When Sebastian and I were younger we would sneak out of bed to the meadow to watch them bloom at midnight.

"It's almost..." The flower suddenly started to bloom.

"...Midnight," I finished Jace's sentence.

He grinned at me and for the moment I forgot about all the crap going on in my life. I forgot my mom was a liar, I forgot that there was a killer hellbent on dispatching my brother and I, I forgot Sebastian was missing. I got lost in Jace's golden eyes.

It was when Jace kissed me that my brain stopped functioning all together. I felt his hand slink around my waist, drawing me closer to him. My hands were in his hair, feeling it soft and silky.

Suddenly someone cleared their throat behind us. I tore myself away from Jace and turned to see who it was.

It was Alec. "There's something you both need to see."

 **Author's Note: How'd you guys like the chapter? Got some Clace action for you guys there ^.^ Also *le gasp* Sebastian is missing! Next chapter will be a fun one *insert evil smile here* I'll update soon and thanks for reading!**


	20. Chapter 20

"We're keeping all this to ourselves," Alec warned me as the four of us entered the car. No, I wasn't driving. I don't think I would ever drive again.

I nodded. If Robert and Maryse wanted to convict Sebastian they could. They wouldn't listen to anything we had to say anyway.

"Magnus has been doing a lot of locater spells trying to find Sebastian," the older boy said. I began to wonder why Magnus was doing so many favors for us. He had said he was done helping Shadowhunters. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Alec- "Until now they've all been futile and worthless. But this time Magnus got a location: a warehouse by Hodge's apartment."

Izzy was flying down the street. We were lucky it was night and no one else was on the road. I watched as the automatic lights turned green just before we reached them.

I snuck a glance at Jace, just visible under the passing street lights. What was I doing with him? Kissing him while my brother was missing? Thinking-

I quickly turned away as his eyes locked onto mine. I think I was blushing and I hoped it was unnoticeable in the darkness.

Izzy suddenly pulled to a stop outside a building. We had arrived.

Piling out of the car I realized none of us had thought to put gear on. Magnus had called Alec with the news and in an effort not to lose Sebastian we ran out of the Institute with the clothes on our backs. We didn't know what we were walking into. Gear could have been useful. I was glad that I never left anywhere without faithful Heosphoros.

We scouted the area quickly and found a back entrance in the alley. Quietly slipping inside I was glad we had at least runed up. The night vision rune was helpful at the moment.

Soundlessly, the four of us made our way further and further into the warehouse. Crates and shelves filled the empty space. I didn't care to read what was written on the boxes.

The lights suddenly turned on. They were so bright it momentarily blinded me. I looked to my three companions. No one was by a light switch. Then who had..?

"Well, well, well..." A voice boomed. I whirled around trying to tell where it was coming from. There was an echo in the warehouse so it sounded like it was coming from all places at once. "This is a nice surprise isn't it?" I could tell one thing: that wasn't Sebastian.

"Izzy..." I whispered.

"I don't know, I can't tell where," she replied.

Suddenly there was a crash, one of the shelves had fallen causing a domino effect. They all started falling towards us.

"Move!" Alec shouted. I rolled out of the way as a crate fell towards me. An instant later I was on my feet and colliding with Jace to push him out of the way of a shelf. I didn't owe him anymore.

The crashes ceased. My eyes flew towards Izzy. She was fine, a few yards away from me and Jace. I spotted Alec a few feet behind her.

"Quite impressive," the voice said. The shelves had fallen, there was nothing blocking our view now. I found a man standing in the center of the warehouse.

One look at him and I could tell he was a Shadowhunter. I knew it in my gut. It didn't hurt that he had runes covering his bare forearms and neck. He even looked angelic with his pale hair and striking blue eyes.

"Where's Sebastian?!" I yelled at him. I didn't care who he was I just wanted my brother back.

"Clary." He spoke my name with a wicked smile. "It shouldn't surprise me how fiercely loyal to your brother you are. But, alas, I didn't do anything to Sebastian."

I didn't know who this guy was but I knew that I didn't like that he knew both of our names. I also didn't like the fact that he was blantingly lying to me.

"I suggest you don't lie to her," I heard Jace's voice behind me. "She'll punch you in the face." I was going to do a whole lot more to him than punching him in the face.

"Jace Herondale, she has you trained doesn't she?" In any other circumstance I would have burst out laughing. I could practically feel Jace's glare at the shadowhunter but he didn't say anything in return.

"Tell us what you did with Sebastian!" I demanded. "I can promise you that you won't walk out of here unscathed." There were four of us against one. We could take him.

That caused the boy to laugh. "You think you can hurt me? Darling, you'll all be drained of bloody before you can take one step."

Drained of blood? It all suddenly clicked. I didn't know how I didn't seen it before. I must had been blinded by my rage due to wanting Sebastian back.

"Izzy," as I spoke my parabatai's name I glanced towards her. She nodded. She knew as well.

"I can see the gears turning." The shadowhunter smirked. "You think you figured it out haven't you? Think again."

At that instant a door at the other end of the warehouse opened and a figure made their way towards us. Blonde, green eyes. Sebastian.

My feet started moving towards him before my mind thought through what I was doing. Then, I was jerked backwards by someone grabbing my arm.

"Jace!" I yelled.

"Clary, stop," he said. "You're not thinking straight."

What the hell was Jace talking about? I looked towards my brother again. He was fine, thank the Angels. Perfectly fine...why was he perfectly fine? I knew Sebastian, he wouldn't have gone without a fight. He should at least have some scrapes and bruises.

"Sebastian," my voice came out far weaker than I had expected or wanted it to.

Instead of answering my brother turned to the shadowhunter he stood next to. "What do you think? Should we tell them?" He asked.

The blue-eyed one grinned again. There was something evil in that grin I was sure of it. "Go right ahead."

"He killed our father," Sebastian started. "Because I asked him to." My heart stopped. "Oh and all the vampires, though that's his own agenda, not mine. I couldn't care less about the bloodsuckers.

I couldn't speak, words wouldn't leave my mouth. I wasn't even sure if I was breathing anymore.

"To be fair the ones I killed deserved it." The shadowhunter shrugged. A shape whizzed towards him. A vampire was whispering in his ear. He nodded and the vampire darted off. "Seems you brought friends, we'll have to continue this at a later date." He grasped Sebastian's wrist and the two were gone.

It was at that moment the windows exploded and dozens of vampire poured in. I noticed Simon among them, Izzy must've called for help.

Jace was still holding my arm so I ripped it from his grip and pushed past him on my way outside. I needed fresh air. I needed to make sense of what just happened.

"Clary!" Izzy exclaimed jogging after me as we reached outside.

"I-I..." What do I even say? "...I can't Izzy, not right now. I don't even know what just happened."

I leaned against the car letting the cold night's air wash over me. Everything I knew was a lie. Sebastian had contracted this shadowhunter to kill our father? Why would he do that? He had loved Father just as much as me. Unless that was all an act...

Izzy remained silent. She probably didn't know quite what to say either.

I tried the car door, it was locked. "Can we just...?"

"Oh, yeah," Izzy replied, fumbling for her keys. The car doors unlocked and I slipped into the passenger's seat. She left me to go talk to Simon for a moment.

The door to the backseat opened and I noticed the blond getting in.

"Don't you dare say it," I told him. I wasn't in the mood for Jace Herondale right now.

"Say what?" Like he didn't know. If even for a moment he had suspected Sebastian. Sure, he didn't actually kill the vampire but he was involved.

" 'I told you so,'" I mimicked what he would said.

"Clary I'm not going t-" he was cut off as both the driver's door and the back seat door opened simultaneously. Izzy and Alec entered the car.

Izzy started the engine and off we were.

•••

I couldn't sleep. Some part of my mind had gotten over the shock. I had a thousand thoughts running through my head.

The note. What was the meaning of it? The Morgensterns would fall? Did Sebastian want us all dead? I couldn't believe that was the case, we were his family; yet Father had been his father and he had that guy kill him-

I bolted out of bed. Of course. The shadowhunter. Why hadn't I been thinking of him more? Had I been too shocked by Sebastian's betrayal?

I ran to the library, hoping they would have the book I was looking for.

I plucked books off the shelves in a frantic. "Move," I said to Church who was lounging on the table. He hissed when I shoved him and I hissed back. I didn't have time to deal with this stupid cat.

I flipped through the books until I found something. It was a log, a list of fallen shadowhunters. Specifically shadowhunters who had fell fighting vampires.

I compared the names I found to family trees. There was only one possibility. But...then I remembered Hodge's file. The shadowhunter baby...

I looked through another record, this one of Idris deaths. And there it was:

 _Jonathan Christopher Wayland_

 _Deceased: February 8, 1992_

 _COD: Fire_

The killer. His name was Jonathan Christopher Wayland and he was supposed to be dead. I would gladly make things right.

 **Author's Note: I am so sorry that it took me so long to update. But it was worth it wasn't it? You finally get to find out who the killer is. I'm working on the next chapter right now so hopefully as long as I don't get anymore writer's block it should be out soon. I've also been doing Camp Nano this month with another story so that's why updates might be slow. Sorry about that. Anyway, thanks for reading! What'd you think of the reveal? Let me know!**


	21. Chapter 21

The first thing I did was tell Izzy.

When I went into her room I found that she was having trouble sleeping as well. Of course, she had been close to Sebastian as well. Dealing with my own feelings I had overlooked the fact that others might be hurting as well.

"Jonathan Christopher Wayland?" My Parabatai questioned when I had finished explaining.

I nodded. "It all makes sense. I mean I don't exactly know what his motive is but his identity makes sense at least."

"But how did he get from Idris to New York? It wasn't exactly a hop, skip and a jump back in 1992."

I shook my head. "I don't know. And obviously he had someone to help him, he was just a baby then."

"That's...my dad used to tell us the story of the Waylands. Michael Wayland, Jonathan's father, was his Parabatai," Izzy told me. "I always thought it was such a sad story. Michael's wife, Eliza succumbed to an illness a few months before Michael was killed during a mission. And then the next day the baby perished in a fire along with it's caretaker at Wayland Manor."

"Obviously the baby didn't die," I sighed. "He grew up into the bastard that killed my father."

"Isn't it just a little convenient?"

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Like it almost seems like too much of a coincidence that Michael Wayland was killed just the day before the fire that supposedly killed his son," Izzy theorized.

"So you're saying they're connected?" I had been focusing too much on the killer's identity and how he got to New York to realize the obvious facts.

Izzy nodded. "What if someone wanted the Waylands gone? They could have killed Michael on the mission and then turned around the set fire to the manor house. Or even sent Michael on a suicide mission."

"Maybe...maybe if we can find out what the mission Michael was sent on was we can find out who wanted the Waylands dead..."

"And then that can lead us to who saved the baby and brought him to New York," she concluded.

"It might even give us some insight into what Jonathan's next move might be," I said. I then realized that Izzy was silent. She was thinking something but not telling me. "Izzy."

"Clary...I think we already know what his next move's going to be...or at least the general idea of it," she said. What was I missing? "It's you...he's going to try and kill you. Remember the note? _The Morning Stars Will Go Out_?"

"No..." I said. "That's not-" Is that what Jonathan was trying to do? Kill all the Morgensterns? Or... "Sebastian wanted our father dead," I tried to keep my voice steady as I said that. It was still hard for me to believe. "He wouldn't want me dead too..." I trailed off realizing that I didn't even know my own brother any more. I had always thought he loved Father. What if his love for me was an act as well? What if he had just been waiting for the right time to stab me in the back, literally?

I sat on Izzy's bed and put my head in my hands. What was the point of all this? Sebastian had contracted Jonathan to kill our father...but he was still working with him. They were planning something else, but what? And why reveal themselves to us? Sebastian could have kept working in the shadows and none of us would have known.

I felt Izzy sit down next to me and put her arm around me. "I'm just so confused and frustrated. We figure out one thing and then we have a dozen more questions that come as a result."

Izzy sighed. "One step forward and two steps back, every time. I'm sorry, Clary." I wanted her to say 'It'll all turn out okay' but her and I both knew that it wouldn't. How could anything be okay after everything that had already happened?

After a moment I spoke again. "We should clue in Alec and Jace," I said. "Maybe they'll have some ideas or something. I'd take anything at this point."

Walking out of my parabatai's room we came upon the ball of fur called Church in the hallway. Izzy bent down to scratch his ears. "Hey, Church, can you go get Jace and Alec?" The cat turned it's yellow gaze to me and hissed before walking off in the opposite direction from the boys' rooms.

"I pushed him off a table in the library earlier," I told Izzy before she could ask.

She laughed slightly. "He's going to hold a grudge against you for days, you know that right?"

After waking the boys the four of us rendezvoused in my room. The circle that we usually stood in felt noticeably smaller without Sebastian here; it was more of a square now.

Izzy and I relayed the information I had found and what we had speculated to the pair of parabatai.

"Why does he have to be Jonathan Christopher too? The guy stole my name," Jace pouted.

The three of us ignored the blond. There were more important things to worry about than the fact that Jace and the killer had the same name.

"Maybe Magnus might..." Alec trailed off realizing that none of us knew what our next move would be. Sebastian wasn't taken against his will, we didn't have to rescue him. What would we do when we found them? Turn them over to the Clave? As much as Sebastian had hurt me I couldn't stomach that.

Alec cleared his throat and spoke again. "Magnus might know how they disappeared suddenly like they did. That was obviously magic; he might be able to tell us something."

Three pairs of eyes turned to me. Apparently I was in charge of this. "Yeah...sure."

Alec stepped out of the room to call his 'secret' warlock boyfriend leaving the three of us. I sat on my bed and clutched a pillow to my chest.

"Clary," it was Jace speaking. "We'll figure all this out-"

"And then what?!" I stood up abruptly and threw the pillow aside. "Find the two of them and turn them into the Clave? I could care less about Jonathan but Sebastian? He's my brother! How could yo-"

" _Sed lex dura lex_ ," the blond recited. The law is hard but it is the law. "He basically killed your father, then he tried to kill us!" The car bomb. I had forgotten, but it didn't matter.

"He's my brother!" I repeated before turning to Izzy. "Could you turn in Alec?" Her silence gave me her answer.

"You don't have siblings, Jace, you don't understand," I told him. "And since when do you even care what the Law says?"

"Clary this is different he's a-"

I gave him the middle finger. "Piss off," I told him before yanking the door open and leaving. Alec was still on the phone in the hallway and he gave me a confused look but I ignored him.

I didn't know where I was going as I made my way to the front door. I threw my hood up as the chilly morning air whipped through my hair.

After walking down the sidewalk for awhile I felt my phone buzz, the stupid mundane thing Izzy had made me get. I took it out to notice that it was Izzy calling me, probably wondering where I went. I shoved it back into my pocket. I wanted to be alone.

It was then that something felt wrong, terribly wrong. I couldn't describe it but I knew it wasn't from me it was from-

I dialed Izzy's number as I began running back to the Institute. She didn't answer, once, twice, three times. I even tried Jace and Alec: there was no answer for either of them.

I cursed shoving my phone back into my pocket. What was going on? I should have picked up the phone call from Izzy.

I ran inside the Institute letting my feet take me where I needed to go.

I found myself in front of the infirmary. The doors were closed. Outside I found a couple of Ascended stood looking grim. I even found Jace crouched against the wall with his head in his hands.

My eyes found Izzy. She was crying, crying more than I had ever seen her cry before. Alec was holding her and if I wasn't mistaken he was crying too.

I stood frozen to my spot until a Silent Brother nearly ran into me. "Sorry," I mumbled to him. Something was off about him but I didn't care because at that moment Izzy noticed I was there.

My Parabatai rushed into my arms. She was still sobbing. "It's Max..." And suddenly I felt my heart breaking.

 **Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry for the wait and also killing you all...Haha..oops. Anyway I've got two more chapters completed so those'll be up in the next couple of days! Hope you guys are still enjoying the story and thanks for reading!**


	22. Chapter 22

We had been sitting outside of the infirmary for what felt like hours. I was sitting against the wall facing the door, waiting for it to open, with Izzy's head rested on my shoulder. She had ceased her crying but I could still sense the waves of sorrow coming from her.

From what I had gathered from Izzy's basically incoherent sobs and the Ascended talking, Max had taken a fall down a flight of stairs. The two Ascended who had been in the hall when I arrived heard a crash and rushed to the scene to find Max at the bottom of the stairs. His head was bleeding from where he must've hit it. He was unmoving and unresponsive. His glasses were hopelessly shattered. Somewhere in the time that the Ascended were staring, shocked at the scene Izzy had arrived and let out a scream, alerting the rest of the Institute. Apparently that had been right after she had called me.

The door suddenly opened and the Silent Brother I had seen enter earlier exited. I got a better look at him now; he did not look normal. He still retained his hair, and his eyes and mouth were neither missing nor sown shut.

 _You may enter now, I heard him speak inside our minds. I have done all I can for him. Time will tell._

With that he strode down the hall, towards the exit, but not before I noticed the gray lump of fur also known as Church trailing after him.

I followed the siblings and Jace into the infirmary but held back. These people were Max's family. I barely knew him, all I could think was that Sebastian would fit better in this room than me they had been friends, at least I think who knows now, while I was completely out of place.

Max was lying in a bed and just looked like he was sleeping peacefully. There was a bandage over part of his head but other than that nothing seemed wrong.

I looked to my Parabatai. She was holding her little brother's hand urging him gently to wake up.

I quietly slipped out of the room. If Izzy needed me I wouldn't be far.

I found the stairs where Max had fallen; it hadn't been hard. While someone had cleaned up the small amount of blood there was still his broken glasses on the ground. I gingerly picked them up, careful not to cut myself. I shook them to let the hanging glass fall off before I folded them up and put them in my pocket.

It was then I saw something under a table in the hall, something that the others must've missed. Reaching under the table I pulled out a book. It was the book Sebastian gave to Max. He must've been holding it when he fell and then it slid out of his hands.

I gripped the book and took it back to the infirmary with me. When I arrived I found that Robert and Maryse had cleared out leaving only Izzy, Alec and Jace in the room.

Walking over to the bed I set the boy's broken glasses on the bedside table and then I set down the book right next to them.

Max suddenly flung his eyes wide open and struggled to sit up. Izzy attempted to get him to lay back down. "Sebastian-!" He shouted. "Where is it?!"

I quickly put the book in his grasp. He seemed to relax.

Alec began asking him questions, what had happened. Max said he didn't remember he was at the top of the stairs and then nothing. In the middle of all the questions he announced that he was sleepy and was asleep again before the parents came back into the room.

There was music coming from the music room. I heard it when I was wandering the halls.

It was the day after Max's accident. He was recovering well. Izzy was beyond happy as she had expressed the sentiment to me late yesterday. I suppose it is a great relief to know your sibling isn't going to die.

Alec had finally gone to Magnus' today. They were going to try and figure out what type of magic was used to make Jonathan and Sebastian disappear and if Magnus could pinpoint the source. Among other things.

Izzy was doting on her little brother today. Trying, and failing miserably, to make cookies for him. After her fourth near poisonous batch I left her in the kitchen readying her fifth batch.

As I neared the music room I listened to the melody more closely. A piano was being played creating a soft, haunting song.

The music came to its end as I arrived and I was about to go and tell whoever was playing how impressed I was when I found it was Jace.

He had his back turned to me, sitting at the piano bench. He began another song, this more faster.

I stood in the doorway. I didn't know that Jace knew how to play the piano. I didn't know he knew how to do anything besides kill demons. But that wasn't true, I-

Jace suddenly pressed a wrong note and ceased playing, cursing to himself. He finally noticed me standing there and turned his head.

"Sorry," I started. "I heard playing and-"

"You're wrong," was Jace's reply.

"What?" What was I wrong about? He had just been playing the piano, hadn't he?

He turned his body on the bench so that he was facing me. "You said I don't have siblings, I didn't know what it felt like." He stood up. "Alec and Izzy are my siblings. The Lightwoods are my family. Max is my little brother and I almost lost him yesterday. Of course I understand." He had steadily been making his way towards me and now pushed past me out the door.

"Jace, wait!" I called after him. "I didn't realize-"

"Of course you didn't, Clary," he laughed. "By the Angel, you're so self-centered! Sure, sure, it's your father that's been killed. Your brother was behind it the whole time. You have no idea if he's going to kill you or not. Maybe this entire thing is revolving around you, but that doesn't mean the rest of us don't have problems of our own."

I was silent. What would...what could I say to that?

"You don't understand the bonds I have with the Lightwoods because you haven't cared to notice. I bet you don't even know the majority of the Ascended's names. Alec's wrestling with who he is as a person and his feelings for Magnus." He had known about that? "I know you've realized the latter but did you know how hard he's fighting to keep everything a secret from his parents? Even your own Parabatai," he let out a small laugh. "Did you know she's been sneaking out? Raziel knows where but I bet it has to do that was bloodsucker, Simon.

"You don't pay attention to others around you, Clary, you're ignorant. I'm done pretending that it doesn't matter. Because that, Clary, is a deal breaker for me." He turned away from me and made his way down the hall.

"Jace!" I shouted after him, but it came out quieter than I had hoped. Either he didn't hear me or he didn't care as he rounded the corner.

 **Author's Note: Thanks for reading guys! Almost 8k views on this story, omg! Thank you guys so much! Another chapter is coming soon so be ready!**


	23. Chapter 23

I sat on my bed trying to prove to myself that what Jace had said wasn't true. I wasn't self-centered, I wasn't ignorant. I cared about others, I knew the world didn't revolve around me.

But...the more I thought about it the more I realized he was right.

I didn't even know half of the Ascended's names. I had never cared enough to find out and as I began to think about it, it scared me to think deeper into the reasons why I hadn't cared.

I had never looked past Jace's sarcastic side, other than that night in the greenhouse. I hadn't observed how he acted with any of the other Lightwoods except his Parabatai bond with Alec.

Alec. I hadn't realized the hasty excuses he made when his parents asked where he was going when he was so obviously meeting Magnus. I hadn't even thought that maybe he was trying so hard, and utterly failing, to hide his relationship with Magnus from the rest of us because he was afraid of the disappointment and disgust that his parents would definitely bring upon him.

I had seen Simon's name at the top of Izzy's recent calls but I always assumed it was because of the killings. I never stopped to think that something else could possibly be going on. It hurt me that Izzy hadn't told me, but at the same time maybe I had hurt her more by not even seeming to care.

I got off my bed and made my way to the kitchen where I smelled the scent of burnt cookies. Izzy was still trying.

"Here, try this," her voice suddenly said as I stepped into the kitchen. A cookie was stuffed into my mouth and I nearly gagged. "That bad, huh? But it's better than the last batch isn't it?"

I nodded throwing the rest of the cookie away. "Why don't you just go out and buy Max some cookies?"

"Because nothing helps you heal better than homemade cookies!" Izzy told me as she began cracking eggs into a bowl.

I leaned against the counter and watched as she mixed several ingredients together. She looked over at me. "Come on, Clary? What is it? Out with it."

"Why didn't you tell me about Simon?" I hadn't meant to say that. I had meant to apologize for not paying attention but the question came out instead.

Izzy stopped mixing and stared at me. "You had so much going on with your Mom and then Sebastian and now this whole mess I-"

"The real truth, Izzy," I told her. "I can take it."

She sighed and set the bowl and spoon down. "I honestly didn't think you'd care. I didn't think you'd be happy for me."

What was she talking about? She was my Parabatai, my best friend. If she was happy so was I.

"Every boyfriend or fling I've had you've simply rolled your eyes and giggled about how I'd be on a new boy in a week," Izzy said to me. "And maybe that was true for most guys. But Simon's different Clary...I don't know what it is but he's nothing like anyone else I've been with. I was scared you'd write him off like you do every other guy."

"Izzy I-" I stopped myself. It would be a lie to say I wouldn't do that because I knew if she had told me about him I would have reacted the same way I had to all of her other boyfriends. "I'm sorry," I said instead. "We're Parabatai, you shouldn't feel the need to hide anything from me because you'll be scared of how I'll react. I'm sorry I made you feel that way."

Izzy suddenly hugged my smearing cookie dough and flour all over my hair and back. "I love you, Clary."

"I love you too," I told her as we parted.

"How did you even find out about me and Simon?" Izzy suddenly asked a few moments later as she spooned cookie dough onto a baking sheet.

I looked up from my hopelessly dirty hair. "Huh?"

"I mean you've been so oblivious it's kinda hard to believe you suddenly came to the realization that we were an item."

"Jace actually told me," I told her the truth. What would be the point in trying to lie?

"Jace?" Izzy questioned and then shrugged. "He always seems to know what's going on somehow." She said then started laughing.

"What?" I asked.

"Did you know that Jace was the one who accidentally outed Alec?" I shook my head. She hadn't told me the story. "So there the three of us were in the training room doing some, well training. Alec and I were recounting some things we had done with you and Sebastian in Idris, remember that weekend we both came down?" I nodded it had been about a year ago.

"Anyway, Alec was going on and on about Sebastian and then Jace suddenly groaned and said 'We get it! You're in love with the guy!' He obviously meant it as a joke, he just wanted to get back to training but Alec's face turned red as a tomato," Izzy recounted. "And then Jace and I realized that Alec was gay. We changed the subject and Alec never actually told me anything about if he was really in love with Sebastian or if he was actually gay but it's was just plain obvious after that."

The story should have been funny. But it just made me realize another thing I had overlooked: Alec's feelings for Sebastian. Thinking back over the past year it was pretty obvious but I had been oblivious.

"You know we should go on a double date," Izzy said as she put the cookies in the oven.

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean you, me, Simon and Jace."

"Izzy, Jace and I aren't a thing," I told her truthfully. After what Jace had said in the hall I didn't think we ever would be.

"Uh-huh," Izzy wasn't convinced. "Alec told me about walking in on the two of you in the greenhouse."

"That wasn't-" I sighed. It was exactly what it looked like. "That doesn't matter anymore. He made it pretty clear that he doesn't want to be with me."

Izzy laughed. "Clary, he's crazy about you anyone can see that."

I shook my head. "He told me I was self-centered. That I was ignorant. That was a deal breaker."

"Clary that's not-"

"Don't lie to me, Izzy. What he said was true," I told her. "I don't even know half of the Ascended's names. I didn't realize you and Simon were a thing. I never noticed how close Jace was to all of you, that you were his family. Hell, I didn't even notice how hard Alec's been trying to hide everything. I've been so wrapped up in everything about the killer and my family that I didn't stop to notice others around me."

"At least you realized your faults, Clary," my Parabatai said to me. "Most people just deny them."

"Out of the kitchen, Isabelle," Maryse said entering the kitchen.

"But Mom-"

"No, I have to prepare dinner and I can't have this disaster going on in here," her mom told her.

Izzy crossed her arms. "Come on, Clary." I followed after her out of the kitchen. "I'm not telling her that there's cookies in the oven. She can deal with them burnt."

I laughed. Izzy always got so defensive when people criticized her cooking. "Come on, let's just go buy some cookies. I'll even tell Max you made them."

"You're the best, Clary!" She went to hug me but I sprang back.

"Wash up first! You already got cookie dough all over my shirt and hair."

Izzy giggled as she entered her room. I sighed and went into mine. I changed my shirt and tried unsuccessfully to brush the cookie dough out with just water. In the end I just tied my hair in a bun. I'd wash it later tonight.

Grabbing my coat I walked out of my room and knocked on Izzy's door. "Are you ready yet?"

The door opened to reveal my Parabatai completely dressed with her hair and makeup both done. I no idea how she did it.

"Sorry, my eyeliner took a little longer than I thought it would," she told me before leading us towards be entrance of the Institute. "There's this new bakery that opened up not that far away-"

As I stepped outside Izzy's voice faded. It seemed like everything slowed down around me. People and cars rolled by in slow motion.

And then I was beginning to walk down the street. Everything returned to normal. The cars zoomed by. People ignored the Institute. And then, Izzy was yelling at me.

"Clary! Clary! Where are you going? That's the wrong way?"

I wanted to stop my feet but I couldn't. I couldn't even turn my head to look at Izzy or shout out to her. My body was moving on its own and I had no control whatsoever.

 **Author's Note: What is this...? A new chapter? Yes, yes it is. I'm sorry this took so long to upload but hey you should know by now that I suck at updating. The next chapter is in the works and I promise it'll come sooner than this one!**


	24. Chapter 24

Izzy was still shouting my name but I couldn't respond to her. I had no control.

My Parabatai grabbed my arm in an attempt to stop me. I wanted to shout at her to let go because I felt my other arm swinging around to punch her in the face. She released my arm and I kept walking.

I couldn't even look back at her to see if she was okay or not. I fought with every ounce of my strength to regain control of my body but it was futile.

"Jace!" I heard Izzy's voice say. She must've been on the phone. "Something's wrong with, Clary, I don't know what to do!" I could tell how scared she was but I could do nothing.

For a few minutes, I kept walking hearing footsteps behind me, knowing it was Izzy. Suddenly there were louder, harder footsteps that slowed down. Jace appeared in front of me.

"Jace..." I heard Izzy's voice warn.

"Clary, snap out of it," the blond said. "At least stop walking. Clary-" he suddenly groaned as I kneed him where it hurts. I kept walking past him.

"Clary!" Izzy shouted again. Once again, I was forced to ignore her.

Someone suddenly grabbed my arms, pinning them behind my back and holding me there. Jace. "Come on Clary, stop this! I don't want to hurt you."

"Help!" I suddenly screamed at the top of my lungs. We were passing a park. There were dozens of people. "Someone help me! He's going to hurt me!"

Jace suddenly released me. We hadn't glamoured before we left and I guess in his hurry Jace hadn't either. "By the Angel, Clary stop it-"

That's all I heard because I broke out into a run. I didn't know where my body was taking me. I didn't recognize this part of New York.

I ran down an alley and then ran into an invisible wall, then I fell to the ground. It was wonderful that I could still feel pain.

I got to my feet and then I couldn't move. I felt my body wanting to move, to keep going in the direction we had been heading in but I couldn't.

"Is that going to hold her?" A voice asked. My head flashed to my right where Alec and Magnus stood.

"Alexander, I'm shocked that you doubt my magic," Magnus said with fake hurt.

"Magnus Bane," I heard myself say. "You will regret this. In the coming days-"

Magnus waves his hand towards me "...and sleep." Everything turned black.

I woke up, my head throbbing. As I sat up I went to brush some hair from my face to find my hand handcuffed to the the leg of a sofa. I pulled at it frantically before looking around at where I was.

I was in Magnus's loft, in his living room. I heard talking coming from the kitchen. I pulled at the handcuff again, it didn't budge.

There was a ''meow" and suddenly the warlock's cat was in front of me. "Chairman Meow," I said using my other hand to reach out to pet him.

"Clary?" Izzy's voice wondered. I looked towards the doorway to see my Parabatai making her way towards me. The others followed behind her.

"Izzy, what's going on, why am I handcuffed to Magnus's sofa?" I was going to kill Jace if he made a dirty joke but for once he was silent.

"You don't remember what happened?"

"What happened...?" I questioned and then it all came back to me. My body moving on its own, punching Izzy and kneeing Jace. Magnus and Alec intersecting me as I blacked out. "I-I..I couldn't stop- that wasn't me-" Magnus flashed his hand and suddenly he handcuff was gone.

"How do you know she's really her?" Jace asked.

"I don't sense the magic I sensed earlier when we caught her," Magnus explained.

"What if the magic's hidden inside her or something?" The blond hypothesized. He walked closer to me. "She could be fooling us."

"A Herondale doubting my skills, like I haven't heard that one before," Magnus sighed.

I stared -or actually glared- up at the blond. "If you don't stop referring to me as if I'm not here I'm going to kick you in the nuts again and this time I won't feel guilty for not being able to stop."

"Okay," Jace said. "She's actually Clary." I lashed my foot out at him but he was already springing back out of the way.

Izzy suddenly hugged me. "Oh Clary! You scared me so much. I'm glad you're back to yourself."

"To be honest I was scared out of my mind as well," I admitted. "Not having control over my own actions...it was terrifying."

"I'm just glad you're okay now...you're okay right?"

I nodded. "Except the fact that my head's still throbbing I'm perfectly fine."

Magnus shrugged. "I told Alec to catch you."

"You spelled her before I could even react!" Alec argued. "The plan was to get information before the spell."

"She was threatening me, Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn," Magnus recounted. "No one threatens me and gets away with it."

"Okay!" I suddenly shouted. I could tell this could go back and forth between the two for a while. And judging by the escalating rate of tension in the air I wasn't actually sure I wanted to be around when the conversation finished. "What actually was that though? What happened to me?"

"A spell of sorts," Magnus told me. "A very powerful spell, actually. One that not many warlock's would have the power to cast."

"Is there a way you can reverse engineer the spell so we can find the caster?" Jace questioned.

"I only got a glimpse at the magic," the warlock said. "And all reminants of the spell are gone now, it would be impossible. What I can tell you however is that it was a long range spell: the caster wasn't anywhere near."

"Then what's to stop it from happening again?" I asked, slightly frightened. What if it did happen again? What if I actually did something I regret? What if I hurt Izzy?

"I placed a protection spell on you after I knocked you out," Magnus explained. "No other warlock's magic should be able to affect you."

"That still leaves the question as to why the warlock targeted Clary in the first place," Izzy said.

"I think the answers pretty clear actually," Alec answered. "The warlock's working with Jonathan and Sebastian. We all saw them disappear that night. It had to have been magic."

"So what? They wanted me? Decided it'd be easier to mind control me than kidnap me themselves?" I asked. The whole thing still seemed odd to me.

"Maybe the warlock figured you were alone. You disappearing randomly would cause less concern than you being visibly kidnapped," Alec said. "The Clave wouldn't have to get involved."

Or maybe.."What if Sebastian didn't want to hurt me? He knows I'll put up a fight before I let someone kidnap me. I wouldn't get hurt that way."

"Clary..." Izzy trailed off.

"What Izzy? Do you really want me to just accept the fact that Sebastian wants to hurt me? I'd like to think that he might have at least a shred of humanity left in him." I was still defending Sebastian, even after everything that had happened.

"You can't know for sure-"

"You know what? You're right, I can't know for sure. Not until I talk to him," I decided.

"Clary," my parabatai's voice warned but I ignored her as I spotted the notebook and pen on Magnus's side table. I tore a piece of paper out before writing a message. I finished by drawing the rune of fire with my stele. The paper burned and disappeared. A fire message.

Izzy's phone suddenly started ringing. She answered it: "Mom? Yeah...sorry we got held up. Okay...yeah we'll be home soon. Okay, bye." She glanced at us. "Mom wants us back for dinner."

We said goodbye to Magnus before preparing to make the walk back to the Institute.

Jace suddenly stopped. "You guys go back, I'll be back later. Maryse mentioned something about some suspicious werewolf earlier today. I'm going to go check it out."

"I'll come with you-" Alec started to say to his Parabatai.

"No, Alec, go home. Be with your brother. I got this one." With that the blonde was off running in the other direction.

When we reached the institute I quietly excused myself from dinner. I wasn't really up for eating right now.

Instead I took a shower. Some part of me thought a shower would wash off any residing magic from the warlock. It was stupid but I went along with it.

I remembered punching Izzy. No one hurt my

Parabatai, no one made me hurt my Parabatai. I was going to get revenge on this warlock if it was the last thing I did.

When I got out of the shower I noticed a folded piece of paper on my desk that hadn't been there before. Unfolding it I found one word written out before me:

 _Erchomai_.

I am coming.

 **Author's Note: Hey look! A new chapter! This didn't take as long as the last one did..right? Three more chapters are in the works after this so they should be up after too long! Almost 10k views? I can't believe that guys, thank you so much! Sadly, this story is coming to a close so don't expect thirty more chapters, probably more like ten. Would you guys like to see a sequel? I have stuff planned or if not I could just leave it off in an epilogue. Let me know!**


	25. Chapter 25

"Izzy!" I shouted hoping she had finished dinner and was in her room by now. Sure enough my door opened and she rushed in.

"What is it? Are you okay?" She asked. I showed her the note. " _Erchomai_ ," she read. "I am coming? Is this from Sebastian?"

I nodded. "I'm going to meet him, tomorrow morning, alone."

"Wait what? Clary you're not meeting your psychotic brother alone!" Izzy yelled.

"Izzy! Think about it! He's not gonna want the four of us ambushing him and trying something. I told him I'd go alone with he came alone," I explained.

"You can't trust him, Clary, he's lied about so much already he-"

"He's still my brother," I told her.

Izzy sighed, frustrated. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe Sebastian is being controlled like you were? That everything was a lie? That this is all going to be a trap."

"It's the first thing I thought," I told her. "But I know he's not."

"How in the world do you know?"

"The fire message," I reminded her. "When we were kids starting to learn the runes and Latin we came up with a game with fire messages. One of us would send the other one and the other would reply with one word in Latin. If he was being controlled by the warlock he wouldn't reply in Latin like that. I do know my own brother, Izzy."

"Isn't that worse, Clary? Knowing that he truly had your father killed?" Izzy asked.

"It's better knowing that he's still Sebastian. He's still my brother. He won't hurt me, if he wanted to he could have done it a thousand times since our father's death," I told her.

"What if he's planning something? What if he wants to do something worse than kill you?" My parabatai tried to knock some sense into me.

"Izzy, I love that you care for me enough to try and talk me out of this but I'm going to meet him, I've already made up my mind," I informed her.

"You're not going alone," Izzy argued. "If I can't talk you out of going then at least I'm going with you."

"He's not going to talk to me if I bring anyone!" I raised my voice slightly before I realized. "Izzy, I'm the only one who may be able to talk some sense into him. I could get him to turn himself into the Clave. I have to try at least and I'm not going to be able to if you or anyone else tags along!"

Izzy let out a heavy sigh before walking away from me for a moment. When she looked back at me I could feel my heart crack because my parabatai was nearly crying.

"Izzy..."

"I can't lose you Clary," she said. "You know how terrified I was earlier today? That something had taken over you and I had lost you forever? If you go to see Sebastian alone and something happens to you...I'll never forgive myself."

I walked up to Izzy and hugged her. "I'm always going to be here, you're stuck with me." I told her. We both knew it could be a lie, shadowhunters died in the line of fighting all the time. But the two of us liked to promise that we would grow old and cranky together. "We're meeting him at nine."

Izzy looked surprised. "Then that means...?"

"You're coming with me. What was I thinking? We're two halves of a whole," I was lying through my teeth but I hoped Izzy wasn't picking up on it. "Sebastian will probably expect it anyway. He knows how close we are. But you can't tell Jace or Alec."

"Clary- they're a part of this too. They should know," she told me. I knew she was right. Jace would probably give me hell when he found out.

"I can't risk them trying to stop us. Sebastian definitly won't talk to me if those two tag along. This meeting isn't just about finding out what's going on it's about trying to get Sebastian back and I can't let them screw that up," I explained.

Izzy sighed but nodded. "Okay, I won't tell them. We go alone, tomorrow morning at nine."

I nodded and smiled before telling her I was going to have an early night. I dreaded the next morning when Izzy would wake up to find me already gone.

At six am the next morning I was dressed and ready to go. My blade, Heosphoros, was strapped to my waist. I wasn't planning on battling my brother but if he betrayed my trust I'd have no choice except to defend myself.

I quickly draw a glamour rune before quietly making my way through the institute. The last thing I wanted was to wake up Izzy or run into Jace or Alec.

But as I rounded a corner downstairs I ran into the last person I would expect. "Mom?"

"Clary!" My mother exclaimed. "I was trying to surprise you-"

"Consider me surprised," I cut her off. We hadn't exactly left on the best circumstances after she lied to me about my father's death. Now was perhaps the worst time for her to come.

"Honey, I heard about Sebastian-" she reached out to touch me but I pulled away.

"I can't Mom, I'm sorry. I have to go," I told before shuffling out the institute door.

Outside I shivered slightly in the brisk morning air, pulling my jacket tighter around me. My mom, the weather, nothing was going to stop me from seeing Sebastian.

I met him at a familiar place: the building where we had first found Miles' body.

My brother was already waiting for me standing at one end of the building. The door slammed shut behind me and he turned his attention.

"You actually came," I said, my voice echoing off the walls. A part of me and thought that he wouldn't.

"Of course I came," Sebastian said. There was an edge to his voice that I couldn't quite place. It seemed darker somehow. "I said I would and I don't break my promises."

There were so many things I wanted to ask him. But I had to be careful with my words. If I played it right perhaps I could convince Sebastian to come back with me. If I said something wrong...it could be very, very bad.

"Why did you have Father killed?" I settled on. "He loved you...more than he loved me anyway."

"He loved me more?" My brother suddenly started laughing. "Oh, Clary, he hated me more than anything! He hated that I was exactly like him. He wouldn't accept that I was proud of him and wanted to walk in his shoes."

I was shocked. Could I trust what Sebastian was saying? Did father really...

"Did you know that when we were children he wanted to send me away? He didn't like me doting around him. Mother was the one who stopped him however, she talked him down and I stayed." Sebastian looked at me, obviously trying to get a read as to whether I was believing what he was saying or not.

I remained silent. I couldn't believe that Father would want his own son gone. But I was doubting what I knew of my father. I had been wrong about Sebastian. I had been wrong about my mother, who lied to me about my father's death. It seemed I didn't know my family as well as I thought I did.

"Father literally pushed me to my breaking point," Sebastian continued. "Remember two years ago when I came home from training with him? He said I fell down a hill and broke my arm. That was a lie. Father pushed me down the hill because I couldn't grasp a move."

"Just stop," I said suddenly.

"You wanted to know why I had our father killed." My brother was stepping closer to me. "I'm letting you see the kind of monster that I knew."

My mind was already rewriting memories I had of our family, this time painting our father as a villain.

I abruptly changed the subject. "Why Jonathan Wayland? I hate to say it but he can't be the only rouge shadowhunter."

"Oh? So you found out the identity of my accomplice? You've always been too smart for your own good," he laughed. "No one knows he's alive! It makes for the perfect killer don't you think? Besides the fact he had a bit of a vendetta of his own-" he suddenly ceased talking. He sighed heavily. "I'm disappointed in you, Clary."

What was he talking about? My mind was still trying to process the vendetta that Jonathan Wayland may have had that I had no time to think about what Sebastian was saying.

"You promised to come alone and I even honored our deal," he started to say.

"I did come alone, Sebastian!"

"You should tell your friends that," he said and I followed he gaze up towards the rafters of the builds. Sure enough I spotted three figures beginning to make their way down knowing they had been caught. "It's a good thing to know that I can't trust you."

Sebastian disappeared in the blink of an eye just like he and Jonathan had done in the warehouse.

I was furious as Izzy, Jace, and Alec dropped to the floor.

"Clary I know you're mad-" Izzy started to say.

"Mad? I'm far beyond mad, Izzy. I was getting through to him, he was telling me things! And now because of you three he'll never trust me again!" I shouted. I knew I wasn't in the right either, I had lied to Izzy but she had to have known it was for a good reason.

"You don't need him to trust you," Jace spoke up. "Everything he told you had to have been a lie anyway. He's a psychotic bastard who had his own father killed! Moreover he's still working with the murderer to do who knows what? He deserves to be hunted down and killed like-"

Jace only stopped talking because I slapped him as hard as I could across the face.

"Just shut the hell up," I told him. "I don't care what you think. I was getting through to him. And now, thanks to you three, I'm never going to get my brother back."

With that I turned on my heel and stormed out of the building, not looking back to see if they were following, at the moment I was far beyond caring.

 **Author's Note: Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it! As I said in the last AN this story is winding down towards its end, but don't worry I have a lot of amazing chapters coming next! Thanks all for getting this story to 10.6K! It means a lot to me! Next chapter coming soon so watch out for that! Thanks for reading!**


	26. Chapter 26

I wasn't too sure where I was going as I trudged down the New York streets. I knew one thing: I sure as hell wasn't going back to the Institute right now. I did not want to see my mother. I knew she was here because of Sebastian but how could I tell her that her own son had her husband murdered?

I let myself believe that my friends weren't following me. I never once looked behind me and tried my best to block out my shadowhunter instincts. Couldn't they understand that I wanted to be left alone?

I found myself at a park, it actually happened to be the one where I screamed at the top of my lungs to keep Jace away when I was being controlled.

I sat down on a bench and let the time tick by. People gradually started to notice me and I realized that my glamour had run out. I wasn't in the mood to put it back up; let people stare at the girl dressed in black with a sword.

I was still furious at Jace, Izzy and Alec. The first two more than the latter because I know he had probably just tagged along.

Perhaps I deserved Izzy to follow after me, I had lied to her about the time of the meeting. There was a slight chance that Sebastian would have seen me with Izzy. But the fact that she went behind my back and told Jace...Sebastian would never trust me again.

I began to realize that I wasn't going to get my brother back. If he didn't trust me there was no way. I dreaded to think of what he and Jonathan could be planning next. Did they really want to kill all the Morgansterns? If Sebastian was trying to see if I was worthy of not being killed I had failed royally.

I felt someone sit down next to me on the bench. I ignored them, attempting to pretend that they weren't actually there.

"You know you really hurt Izzy," was the first thing Jace said. "She just wanted to help, to make sure you were okay. You can't blame your parabatai for that."

"Jace, please just go," I told him quietly. I was tired of all the fighting, the tears, the emotions of these past few weeks. I wanted some time alone to collect my thoughts, to figure out what I was going to do next.

Jace didn't leave but he also didn't speak which was a blessing in its own right. I was beginning to think this would be an otherwise uneventful morning...

"Hey!" A somewhat familiar voice shouted at the two of us. As I glanced up I realized that I recognized the mundane. "Where did Javier go?!" The mundane neighbor of Javier's, the one that I had hit in the face with his own knife.

"I'm saying this not because I care about your life, mundie, but because I don't want unnecessary blood on my hands," Jace started. "Get lost."

"No!" The mundane shouted. By the Angel he was annoying. "Not until you tell me where Javier went! The day after you ransacked his apartment it was cleaned out!"

I gave the boy a cold stare. "Listen here, we aren't the sort of people you want to mess with." I made it a point to emphasize my sword and the runes etched across my color bone and neck.

"I-I don't care if you're in a gang! Javier was my friend and I demand to know what happened to him!" This mundane had guts, I would admit that.

"We're apart of something far worse than any gang," I told him standing up. I withdrew a dagger from inside my jacket.

"Y-you wouldn't hurt me," he stuttered. "Not in public-

"There's no one around. People will only hear you scream and by the time anyone arrives we'll be long gone," I told him. No part of me actually intended to harm the mundane. I was a shadowhunter, it was our duty to protected them. I just needed to scare him.

The scared, terrified mundane suddenly turned his lips into a wicked smile. "If you're willing to harm a mundane perhaps you're worth keeping alive, Clarissa."

"How do you-" I glanced towards Jace to realize that he was crumpled on the floor. Had someone struck him and I hadn't noticed? A vampire perhaps but it was broad daylight...

The mundane started to step closer to me. "That is of course if you're strong enough to survive." Before I knew what was happening he had my dagger in his hand. He stabbed me quickly in the stomach. I fell to the ground, suddenly unable to keep myself on my feet.

I gazed up at my attacker, my vision already going hazy, the figure of Jonathan Wayland now standing before me.

"Sleep well, Clarissa, when you wake another star will have already gone out..." Jonathan started talking to another figure that approached. It almost looked like a fight but I couldn't focus on what was going on as I blacked out.

Izzy's POV

For two weeks I rarely left the infirmary. Clary's condition was stable but she wasn't waking up. Half a dozen Silent Brothers had tried, Magnus had tried. Sometimes these things happened, I had been told.

I drew runes on her daily, strength runes, healing runes. I wasn't sure if it was helping at all but I had to do something.

I blamed myself for what happened. I had let Jace go talk to Clary alone. I had thought Jace was what Clary needed after losing her brother like that.

I felt it when Clary was stabbed. I knew something was wrong.

I found Jace and Clary both lying motionless on the grass of the park, freshly glamoured. Mundanes walked by not even noticing the two half-dead shadowhunters.

When I couldn't wake Clary, when I failed to the stop the bleeding, I was able to wake Jace. Together we brought Clary back to the institute where Silent Brothers immediately went to work on her.

Jace told me the last thing he remembered was Javier's neighbor and Clary threatening him. He figured someone struck him from behind judging by the pain in his head.

There was no way a mundane would have gotten the upper hand on Clary and Jace. Had Jonathan and Sebastian intervened? Perhaps Sebastian wanted to kill Clary now that he couldn't trust her.

Jocelyn was always in and out of the infirmary. She had only been planning on staying a couple days to learn about Sebastian but then this happened with her daughter. It appeared she wouldn't be leaving for awhile.

Simon was my saving grace through all of this. I met him nearly every night even if only for an hour. I wasn't exactly sure what had transpired between us over the last month but I knew it was different than any relationship I had ever been in before.

He had been keeping me informed about the going ons of the Downworld. There was a group of rouge vampires, presumably Camille's loyalists, causing havoc but other than that it was quiet. Like the calm before a storm.

Jace and Alec had been picking up the slack, doing extra patrols for Sebastian and Jonathan on top of their regular patrols and missions as well. On that front all had been quiet. Since that day in the park, had it even been the two of them, we hadn't seen or heard anything.

It was eerie. I could sense something big was coming. Shadowhunters didn't get miracles or peaceful times. Our problems didn't just go away. We had to fight for what we wanted. We had to fight for what was right.

We had went off investigating the mundane only to find out he didn't exist. The apartment had been paid in cash every month and it was cleaned out completely when we went to check it out the day after Clary was attacked.

I sighed as I brushed hair out of my parabatai's peaceful, sleeping face. The more I looked at her the more I thought I could nudge her or say her name and she would wake up. She promised she wouldn't die, she promised she would be okay-

"-send them out to other Institutes, they should be ready," Jocelyn's voice carried from the hallway. I heard my mother say something in reply that was muffled to me by the sound of Jocelyn opening the infirmary door. When she saw me she gave me a soft smile. "Isabelle, you should go out, do something, you know we'll let you know as soon as she awakes."

I shook my head. "No, I'm really fine staying here. I want to be here when she wakes up."

"You've been in here a lot lately," she said and I could tell she wasn't referring to the past two weeks. She was referring to the weeks before that. The time I spent here when Clary was hurt the first time, when Max had fallen down the stairs. "I'm sorry, I can't help but think it's my fault that all this has happened. New York seemed quiet enough before I brought Clary and Sebastian here."

"It's not your fault. All this was happening even before you came, we just didn't know the full extent of it," I said.

Suddenly I felt the hand that I was holding grip mine tightly for half a second before relaxing. "Clary?!" I exclaimed. But she remained unresponsive. I had thought...did I imagine it? "I-I thought she gripped my hand. I thought she was awake-" I explained to Jocelyn who stepped closer until she was standing next to me.

Then, just as Jocelyn was about to speak the moment I had been waiting for happened. My parabatai's green eyes flew open. She gazed at me and her mother, probably trying to understand what was going on.

"Clary..." I breathed happily.

Then the last thing I expected Clary to do she did: she started crying.

"Clary, honey, what's wrong?" Jocelyn asked as she reached out for her daughter's hand. Clary drew that hand away wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Sebastian," she cried. I could feel her heart breaking. It was making me want to cry as well. "He's dead. Sebastian's dead."

 **A/N: Here's the new chapter! Hope you all enjoy it! Anyway thanks for reading and please review! It means a lot to hear what you have to say 3**


	27. Chapter 27

_Clary's POV_

"What?" I heard Izzy question. "Clary, calm down, tell us what's going on."

But I couldn't. My mind just kept going back to the fact that Sebastian must be dead. Jonathan said a star would go out and my mother was here meaning Sebastian was the only viable option. He was dead, he had to be. Jonathan's words hadn't sounded like a threat, they had sounded like a promise.

Izzy sat with me until I stopped crying while my mother stood there, partially terrified that her son could be dead.

Sometime during my outburst Jace and Alec had stepped into the room, Maryse coming in behind them. Looking between the Institute head and my mother I formulated a lie. "A nightmare," I said. My mother relaxed. "I'm sorry- it was so real," I lied.

"Clary, what happened? Do you remember?" Maryse asked.

Again I made up a lie. "I-I don't remember. I remember sitting on the bench and the mundane being there but that's all...I'm sorry."

Maryse sighed. "It's all right. As long as you're okay. Jocelyn?" She called to her friend as she left. My mother smiled at me before leaving the room. Jace closed the door behind her.

"What really happened? I don't believe you don't remember," Jace said.

"I lied. Jonathan is our problem and we'll deal with him ourselves," I told the three of them.

"Was Jonathan there? Did he show up after Jace got knocked out?" Izzy questioned.

I shook my head. "No, the mundane was Jonathan."

"Jonathan is a shadowhunter, not a mundane," Alec pointed out. "Are you sure your coma didn't screw wth your head?"

"Thank you, Alec, I know he's a shadowhunt- wait coma?" I stopped myself and looked at Izzy. "How long was I out?"

She sighed. "Two weeks. You've been lying unconscious in that bed for two whole weeks. Nothing would wake you up." I couldn't believe it..it hadn't felt like more than a few hours for me.

"We'll come back to that later," I told Izzy. "Jonathan was disguised as the mundane," I explained. "Before he stabbed me he spoke my name. It was his voice, I know that now. After he stabbed me I saw him."

"So when we ran into him at Javier's apartment..." Izzy trailed off.

"He knew exactly who we were but we had no idea that it was him," I concluded for her.

"He's been hiding in plain sight this entire time," Alec said. "We don't pay much attention to mundanes, he's probably been following us everywhere that we go. And we were none the wiser. Except Sebastian that is."

"I still can't believe that prat had us fooled this whole time," Jace sighed. "Even me, the great Jace Herondale. I'm going to get him back for that. Maybe I'll-"

"Jace!" Izzy suddenly shouted. He gave her a questioning look until he looked at me. My face said it all.

"Clary, what's wrong?" He asked. Of course, he hadn't been here when I said Sebastian was dead. He had only seen me crying afterwards.

"You're not going be able to get back at Sebastian for anything," I told him. "Because he's dead."

"Don't get me wrong, I know nightmares can seem real Clary, but this is real life- whatever you dreamt about Sebastian dying, it's not real," Jace told me.

"I didn't dream about Sebastian dying!" I shouted. "By the Angel I wish I had rather than this! When Jonathan stabbed me he told me when I woke up 'A star will have gone out.' My mom's fine. That means he got Sebastian. He's dead." The weight of my words hit me again and I felt like crying. But I didn't want to cry in front of Jace so I held back mostly.

"Are you sure you weren't hallucinating? That Jonathan wasn't trying to scare you?" Jace questioned and for the hundredth time since I moved to the Institute I wanted to throttle him.

"If something bad were to happen to Alec, parabatai bond aside, Izzy or Max you would know instantly wouldn't you?" I questioned back. "Call it intuition, family bond, whatever, you would know. That's how I know he's dead."

The room was silent, Jace perhaps taking in my words, or for once not able to come up with a snarky comeback.

Alec's phone suddenly coming to life and ringing was terrifyingly loud as it echoed off the walls. "It's Magnus," he said as he stepped out in the hall to take the call.

"I'd have hope," Jace suddenly said.

"What?" I questioned.

"If I knew deep down that something bad had happened to Alec, Izzy or Max I'd have hope until I saw their body," the blonde explained.

I hated to admit it, even to myself, but what Jace said could hold some truth. My instincts had been wrong before about Sebastian. What's to say they weren't wrong about this?

Alec suddenly stepped into the room again. "Magnus found the warlock," he announced. "The warlock's that's been working with Jonathan and Sebastian."

It took a lot of convincing to get my mother to let me leave the Institute just an hour after I had woken up from a two week coma. The idea that we were going to see Magnus 'to make sure my wound had healed completely' is probably the only reason that I was let out of her sight. I am truly surprised that she didn't try harder to get herself invited along as well.

In all honesty, I was probably completely healed. I don't know how many iratez Izzy had drawn but it had done the trick.

When Magnus opened the door his face lit up the way it always did when he looked at Alec. "Alexander." He smiled. "And friends. Oh, Clary, back from the dead I see?"

"Just an hour ago," I told him. "If my mother asks I came here for a check up," I explained to him and he shut the door behind us.

Magnus nodded. "Understood."

"Who's this warlock then?" Jace asked.

"Damian Maeve," the High Warlock of Brooklyn started to explain. "He's considerably younger than most but no one can doubt his power. He rolled into town a couple months ago. Normally I'd keep someone this powerful on my radar at all times but Damian's always seemed a gentle soul."

"Obviously not anymore," Jace mumbled.

"Anyway," Magnus continued. "According to reports from other downworlders Damian has been seen at Downworlder bars with a brown-haired mundane. No one thought to inform me, mundanes are brought all the time whether they are lovers or just supernatural enthusiasts. I was meeting with a friend and she just happened to mention Damian's aquantiance. I called Alec straight away."

"So what do we do now?" Izzy questioned.

"We bash some heads in until we find Damian, of course." Jace shrugged.

"Or-" I turned to Magnus. "Maybe Magnus could do a locator spell?

Magnus shook his head. "I already tried when I was waiting for you all to arrive. He's shrouded himself in protective magic, I can't find him."

"Okay so back to my plan? Head bashing?" Jace asked.

Magnus directed us to one of the downworlder bars that Damian had been seen at lately. Or should I say just Jace and I.

Jace had posed the plan that we split up to cover more ground and instead of going parabatai with parabatai I would go with Jace and Izzy with Alec. He claimed that it would be best because if something went wrong with the other pair then we'd be able to tell with our parabatai bonds but I wasn't buying it.

Entering the bar we found it swarming with downworlders of all kinds: warlocks, vampires, werewolves, fey. I had never seen anything like it.

Jace pushed his way through the crowd towards the bar and I followed behind him. As we approached the bar the bartender- a werewolf- turned to us. "We don't serve your kind here." I knew we had been asking for trouble coming to a place like this.

Jace pulled out a pile of bills from his jacket and set it down on the table. "Not even for..." he counted the money. "$200?"

The werewolf gave us a long stare before taking the money. "What would you like?"

Jace glanced at me, slightly grinning. As he did, I was in the middle of wondering where he gotten all that money. "We want information. Damian Maeve, have you seen him?"

He stared at Jace again before the blonde sighed and pulled out another twenty. "He was in here a couple nights ago. Brought a mundane."

"This mundane," I spoke up. "Did he happen to have brown hair?"

The bartender glanced at Jace again who pulled out yet another twenty. Seriously, where was the money coming from? The bartender nodded. "Pretty young by the looks of it too, roughly the same age as you two. Now you two better scram before my boss comes. I'm not about to get fired for a couple of shadowhunters."

As we were walking outside a ringtone rang, one I could only guess was Jace's:

 _"I'm sexy and I know it~"_

I rolled my eyes at him as he answered the phone. "Hey, Alec. Yeah. The bartender here said pretty much the same thing." He paused, listening to his parabatai speak. "Okay, yeah we'll meet up at the last one on the list." He hung up and looked at me. "They were at the bar Alec and Izzy just went to a few days ago too. We're gonna keep checking out the bars, come on."

We had similar experiences at the three other bars we went too. Damian had been there with Jonathan, all within the past week. No one would ever say anything past that.

That was until Jace sweet talked one vampire into divulging a piece of important information: "Damian was downstairs for a couple of hours."

"Downstairs?" I asked. The vampire glared at me with hate. Probably thought I would stop her from getting in Jace's pants.

"Where'd you pick this one up at?" She rolled her eyes. "Downstairs, where all the deals go down. Honestly."

Jace grinned. "Thank you," he pulled out a card from his jacket. "I have to go but why don't you call me sometime?"

I then followed Jace as we pushed our way through the crowd again, trying to find the downstairs entrance. "I can't believe you gave that vampire your number."

"I didn't," Jace told him. "I gave her Simon's. Let the bloodsucker deal with another bloodsucker. She seemed like a clingy one, I almost feel bad for him."

We stopped walking when we found a door in the back of the building. "Here we go," Jace said as he kicked the door down. Sure enough there were steps leading downwards.

"We should call Alec and Izzy, let them know-"

"We don't have time, let's go." I had no choice but to follow the blond as he began to descend the stairs.

I tensed up as we began to hear voices talking at the other end of the basement. I followed Jace as we crouched down to hide behind a few crates.

I strained my ears to hear what the hushed voices were saying. Most of it I didn't understand but when I heard "Damian" I glanced at Jace. He nodded.

Suddenly loud music erupted.

" _I'm sexy and I know it~"_

I glared at Jace harder than I had ever glared at him before because I knew it was his ringtone.

"I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You," I said slowly to him as the downworlders began making their way in our direction.

 **Author's Note: New year, new chapters! Uh...yeah this story went on a bit of a hiatus but it's back now! Sorry about that. Anyway, as always thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**


	28. Chapter 28

Jace had silenced his ringtone but that wasn't stopping the downworlders from approaching us. He gave me a knowing look and before I had time to argue he had stood up in full view of the downworlders.

"It's a little drafty down here, don't you think?" Jace was trying to buy time. I immediately began looking for an escape route. But I soon realized the only exit were the stairs we had come down. The stairs that the downworlders were currently standing right in front of.

"Nephilim," one of them spat.

"I mean I love what you've done with the place but the temperature could be improved. Though, I guess you don't get cold being undead and all." He shrugged. I realized we were dealing with vampires. Normally I'd say we could take them but I was sure if any fight broke out down here others would be down in an instant. We couldn't take an entire bar by ourselves.

"What do you think Frank? Should we split him?" A feminine voice. "He looks delicious." I dared to peer out from the side of the crate. Three vampires stood there. Two guys and the girl who had just spoke.

"While I am sure that I'm delicious I really must be going-" he stopped talking as the vampires hissed at him. He sighed and glanced down at me before looking back at the vampires. "Oh what the hell." He whipped a seraph blade out of his jacket and lunged at the vampires.

I cursed myself for not bringing a weapon along with me, not even my trusty blade. I didn't think we would be getting into a fight tonight. And I was sure my mother wouldn't have let me leave the house with a sword strapped to my waist.

I kicked the crate and it splintered as it broke. As I did the vampires looked over in surprise giving Jace the opportunity to decapitate one of them. I grabbed one of the splintered planks as the female vampire lunged at me.

I managed to dive out of the way and held the plank up in defense as she went to lunge at me again. She was probably a new vampire, using only her speed and strength to attack me. Evidently it wasn't enough because she ended up with the piece of wood in her heart.

I glanced over towards Jace to find that he was still fighting the other vampire. However, it was over all too soon as Jace thrust his blade into the vampire's chest.

"Jace! Let's go before more come!" I shouted to him as I began to make my way up the stairs. But I spoke too soon as the door opened and a growling werewolf appeared.

"Clary! Duck!" I bent down at Jace's shout just in time as a plank of wood sailed over my head and hit the werewolf. It provided enough time for me to sprint up the rest of the stairs and skirt around the werewolf, Jace hot on my heels.

"Back exit!" Jace hissed in my ear. The downworlders upstairs were turning towards us.

"Get them!" A voice growled. I realized the werewolf had shifted back and was nursing a head wound from the plank Jace threw at him.

Jace and I hurriedly made our way through the kitchen door. There had to be a back exit that way right?

The cooks turned to us, oblivious to what was going on in the bar. "Excuse us, we're just leaving," Jace said as we inched our way to the door.

Suddenly the door to the bar banged opened. "Don't let them escape!"

"Run!" Jace shouted at me as we ran towards the door. As I pushed it open I saw the blond punch a vampire in the face.

I ran outside into the crisp evening air. Panting slightly I looked behind me as the door closed. There was no Jace.

"Jace!" I shouted. I could see through the windows he was fighting inside. He must've gotten pulled back into the frenzy of battle.

I made motion to run back in there to help him when I suddenly felt a hand go across my mouth and another one holding my arm, holding me in place.

"Don't scream," the voice said. I recognized it instantly. My eyes watered up. "I'm glad you're okay, Clary." I felt something placed in my hand, it felt like paper. "I'll give you a warning: don't go in and save Jace. I-I can't see you hurt again." As quick as he had arrived, Sebastian was gone.

When Jace was thrown out the door I slipped the piece of paper into my pocket. "Jace!" I exclaimed and skidded to the floor next to him.

"I'm fine," he grunted sitting up. He was covered in blood, most of it I'm sure wasn't his but he still had a vampire bite mark on his arm where his jacket had been shredded.

"If I ever see the likes of you around here again I'll kill you myself," said a big burley werewolf standing in the doorway. Presumably the bar owner. With that he turned and went back inside. I could see downworlders glaring at us through the windows.

"Come on, Jace, let's go," I told him helping him to his feet. He tried to stand on his left leg and would've crumpled to the floor if I hadn't been there to support him.

"Okay, yeah, getting thrown into an oven hurts," he laughed slightly.

"Jace!" I heard a voice shout from down the alley. Izzy and Alec soon appeared, the latter's eyes clouded with worry.

As Alec approached I handed Jace off to him and Izzy came running at me. "What the hell happened?"

"We heard Damian was a part of some dark deal downstairs in the bar so we went to check it out," I explained. "And then somebody's-" I looked at Jace accusingly. "-phone went off and blew our cover. We had to fight half the bar to get out."

"Correction, Clary, I fought half the bar to get out. Apparently they found me irresistible and they all wanted a shot at me," he started laughing again and then groaned. "Ribs, ow. Getting hit with a frying pan hurts too."

Alec sighed and shook his head. "Why are you the way that you are?" He asked his parabatai.

"Oh you know you love me." Jace grinned back.

I heard Alec mumble something about leaving Jace here for the crows as he sat his parabatai down to draw some healing runes.

"Clary, are you okay?" Izzy asked, she was already pulling out her stele.

"I'm fine, Izzy. I don't even think I have a scratch on me," I told her.

"But the blood..." I realized that my jacket had splotches of blood. Jace's and the vampires mixed in it would seem.

I took off the jacket to show Izzy. "See? Really fine. I think half of that was from Jace."

Alec's phone suddenly rang. "Izzy, could you get that?" He asked his sister, attempting to draw an iratez to heal Jace's vampire bite.

Izzy pulled he phone out of his pocket and answered it. "Alec's ph-" she started and then turned white as a sheet. "Y-yeah...we'll be right home. By- She hung up on me." She glanced at us. "So Mom knows about us gallivanting through the downworlder bars tonight and she's not very happy."

"You said you were going to visit Magnus!" Maryse shouted. "And then I find out the four of you have been going from bar to bar antagonizing the downworlders? And then you kill no less than three vampires?" She was livid. I don't think I had ever seen her this mad before. "Our relationship with the downworlders is shaky at best! After something like this I can't imagine how it's going to be."

Apparently the owner of the bar had been a member of a prominent werewolf pack in the city. When word got back to the alpha about the trouble we were causing he had called the Institute.

"To be fair we did see Magnus-" Jace started but his adoptive mother cut him off.

"And you! You could have died tonight, taking on that many downworlders. What were you all thinking?" Maryse looked between the four of us. "What could possibly be your reason for doing all this."

"We were looking for Sebastian," Alec suddenly lied.

"Sebastian's a rouge shadowhunter now," she told us. "He's the Clave's problem, I told all of you that." She sighed. "My decision is final. You four are not allowed to leave the Institute in any circumstance until I say otherwise. Do I make myself clear?"

The four of us nodded.

"Good, then I suggest we get Clary and Jace to the infirmary to have their wounds properly looked at," Maryse's attitude seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"It's not my blood. I'm fine," I told her. She nodded as she led Jace and Alec out of the room.

I dared myself to look at my mother standing at the other end of the room. Her expression was unreadable. "Izzy, can I talk to Clary alone please?" My parabatai nodded and glanced my way as she left the room.

"Mom I'm so-"

"Sorry is not going to cut it, Clary. You could have died tonight, do you even understand that? The situation could have been so much worse, they could have killed you instead of just letting you go, you killed three vampires. I don't know what's become of you, Clary since you moved here but I don't like it. You've suddenly become secretive about everything and worst of all, you lied to me."

"Me? Lying?" I had to laugh. "I'm surprised you're upset considering I learned how to lie from you! You're the one who lied about Dad's death!"

"I was doing that to protect you," she told me. "No matter how you may regard me now I am your mother and I know what's best for you. That's why you're coming back with me to Idris."

"Mom!" I yelled. There was no way in hell I was going back there. "You can't do that! You can't take me away from Izzy!"

"Izzy can come too," she said calmly. "I don't know what this city has done to our family but I'm through with it. You're not eighteen yet. I'm still in charge of you and so help me tomorrow morning you will be going through that portal whether you like it or not."

 **Author's Note: Hey look! Another chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed this, I had a lot of fun writing it!**


	29. Chapter 29

"It's not fair!" I exclaimed as I fell back onto my bed. "My mom can't do this! She can't just take me away from here."

Izzy sat down gingerly on the bed next to me. "Apparently she can." She grasped my hand. "But you'll have me at least. Your mom already talked to mine."

"But we can't leave Izzy! Not with everything going on. Jonathan and Seb-" I stopped suddenly and sat up. The piece of paper! I had forgotten all about it.

"Clary?" My parabatai questioned as I withdrew it from my pocket. There was an address and a time. It was tonight at midnight.

"Before Jace got kicked out of the bar Sebastian was there," I explained.

"But I thought you said he was dead? That you felt it?"

"Obviously I was wrong. He gave me this note."

"It's a trap," Izzy said. I bit my lip. I wasn't so sure. Why would he appear to me like that? If Jonathan wanted to lead us into a trap he would have done it more cryptically, as he had done every time leading up to this. "Clary?"

"I'm not saying we should trust this. But I'm also not 100% certain that it's a trap," I told her. "I'm saying we should go and not forget to bring our weapons." And then I thought about something else. "Also we're going to have to sneak out."

Izzy nodded. "Unfortunately I agree. We're leaving tomorrow, this is our last chance to do anything."

"Let's go tell the boys."

"Can I punch your brother in the face, please Clary?" Jace asked. We were in his room. He had moved back in here after visiting the infirmary.

"You're not going," Alec told him firmly. "You need to rest that leg for two days. And so help me if I even see you get out of this bed I will personally break something so you'll have to stay in it."

Jace crossed his arms. "You're no fun."

"Lucky for us the the meeting is at midnight," Alec said ignoring his parabatai. "Our parents will be asleep."

"And if they wake up?" Izzy asked.

"Then we'll get chewed out when we get back." I shared a glance at Izzy. _If I'm right about this...we could get Sebastian back._

We were going to be late to the meeting time. Maryse had stayed up doing paperwork so we weren't able to leave until five aftermidnight.

Too scared to take a car and risk the engine waking someone up we decided to walk it. It would just mean taking even longer.

Soon a figure fell into line next to us. I whipped my head back to see who it was. It was Simon. Izzy had called him in case we needed back up. His vampires would be in position once we got there.

"So we're walking into a trap?" he asked.

"Most likely," Izzy told him.

"There's a small chance it's not," I added.

"I don't like those odds," Alec said. He was running his hands over an arrow. I noticed it was different than the others in his quiver. This one was silver, the others were black. "One sign that this was a trap and we're getting the hell out of there."

I nodded. But I wasn't so sure I was going to follow that. If Sebastian was there...if there was any chance at getting him back, trap or not, I'd have to take it.

I looked up at our destination as we approached. It was an old, abandoned house or at least that was the vibe that it gave off. But of course there were lights on inside.

Alec signaled us forward and we walked around to the back of the house where we found the back door. We crept inside quietly.

The door lead into the kitchen. There were various...'ingredients' spread around. There were the typical kitchen ingredients such as salt and pepper, herbs like sage and honeydew and quite a few other things I couldn't put a name on. There was jars that looked like they contained blood and I swear in one of them I saw a pair of eyeballs. We heard voices talking in the farther end of the house. Staying low to the ground and quiet we crept towards the voices.

We found that the voices were coming from inside the living room. We managed to hide along the wall outside the room. I crouched to the ground and strained my ears.

"The next phase of our plan will start soon." That was Jonathan.

"Of your plan for the shadowhunters." I recognized Camille's voice. "What about us vampires?"

"You'll be causing as much havoc as you can," Jonathan replied. "With the plan in place to weed out the shadowhunters they'll already be stretched thin enough and won't be able to stop you."

I shared a glance with Izzy. What was he talking about weeding out the shadowhunters?

"This is all going down very soon," Jonathan continued. "When I give the signal it will begin. There is one more phase we must complete first, however. Damian? Is everything in place?"

"Yes, I can do the spell right now," a deep voice spoke, one I could only assume was Damian Maeve. "Sebastian, a bit of your blood." At the mention of my brother's name I peered around the corner.

Jonathan, Sebastian, Damian, Camille, and two other vampire were standing in a semi-circle in the living room. There was some sort of alter set up in front of Damian.

I nearly gasped when I saw Sebastian. He looked like hell. He was bruised and had bandages all over. So I hadn't been wrong. Something bad had happened to Sebastian but what?

My brother cut his palm with a knife and the blood dripped into a bowl on the alter table. He bandaged his hand as Damian began to speak words in an ancient language. The warlock closed his eyes as he spoke and when he was done he looked at Jonathan. "It's done."

A vampire suddenly whooshed into the room dragging another by his collar. "I found this one patrolling the perimeter."

Camille hissed. "One of Simon and Raphael's."

"They're here," Jonathan said.

Damian suddenly flashed his hand out towards the wall we were hiding behind.

"Move!" Alec shouted and the four of us flung ourselves out of the way just as the wall exploded.

I scrambled to my feet, my ears ringing from the explosion. I immediately looked around to find Izzy. I let out a sigh when I saw that she was okay. Simon seemed to have thrown himself over her as a shield when the explosion happened.

"I don't really know how you managed to find us but I do know the repercussions you will face for doing so," Jonathan spoke. I whipped my head in his direction. The six were still standing in the same place. "Camille, you'll have to tighten your reign on your vampires. They probably tracked one." Was Jonathan playing? Or did he really not know that Sebastian had given me the note? I looked at my brother but his face gave nothing away.

Camille hissed. "My reign over my vampires is perfect. Why don't you ask the Morgenstern?"

Jonathan glanced at my brother. "Oh you wouldn't do that Sebastian, would you?"

"No, Jon, of course not," Sebastian spoke. He lied...what was going on here? Was Sebastian...?

"No matter," the Wayland sighed. "Alec, put that bow down. You're not going to kill anybody, are you?" I looked towards Alec to realize that he was crouched with the silver arrow notched in his bow. "Not in cold blood anyway."

"None of you are innocent," Alec said. Jonathan didn't seem fazed by his statement. He didn't really seem to be worried about the weapon. He looked at Damian.

If Jonathan hadn't spoken I was sure Alec would have let the arrow fly. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. If you kill Damian, you kill Sebastian. Not willing to sacrifice him are you?"

Alec didn't shoot the arrow but he didn't relax the weapon either. "Alec," I urged.

"Magnus gave me this arrow to kill Damian," the ebony haired boy said quietly. "I promised I would."

"Alec please." I could feel it. We were so close to getting Sebastian back. If he killed Damian...it would be like he killed Sebastian.

Damian grinned and I knew at that moment everything was going to turn to hell. "You know Magnus is next on our hit list. I'll take that little silver arrow and run it through his heart instead. I'll make you watch as your precious warlock-"

"I'm sorry, Clary," Alec said.

Everything happened in an instant and my eyes couldn't keep up.

Damian was pinned to the wall behind him, the silver arrow now in his heart. He head drooped, and he was only being held up by the arrow in the wall. He was dead. One of the vampires was laying on the floor in front of him, a gaping hole in his chest. The vampire must've jumped in front of him in an effort to protect him but the arrow had been too powerful.

Then I saw Sebastian on the floor. He wasn't moving...He was- My brother suddenly coughed before rising to his knees. His head flashed to look at me. "Clary-" I saw his eyes and at that second I knew.

Jonathan gripped Sebastian's white blond hair and pulled him to his feet. He kneed my brother in the stomach. "Think you're getting this back, Clary? Think again."

A dozen vampires suddenly appeared in the room, blocking my view of Jonathan and Sebastian. I pulled out Heosphoros as the first vampire lunged at me. I sliced off it's head quickly before realizing there were more vampires now. But these were fighting the others. Simon's vampires.

I used this moment to look for Jonathan and Sebastian but they were gone. So was Camille. All that remained was Damian's body.

The battle died down as we killed the last of Camille's vampires. There was no sign of where Jonathan had taken my brother. It seemed they had simply vanished.

I slumped against the wall letting my blade clatter to the floor.

"Clary?" Izzy questioned kneeling down next to me.

"We were so close...we were so close to getting him back." I stared at a spot on the floor.

"We'll get him next time-"

"No!" I raised my voice louder than I had intended. "Do you understand what Jonathan is going to do to him now? He's gonna k-k.." I couldn't even say the words.

"Clary, he hasn't killed him yet. He wants Sebastian alive for some reason, that gives us time to find them," Izzy spoke calmly to me.

I looked at my parabatai. "Sebastian's not controlled by Damian any longer. Jonathan has no reason to keep him alive."

"Clary, what are you talking about?" That was Alec.

"Damian was controlling Sebastian, just like that day something was controlling me. I saw it in his eyes when Damian died. He was released from the spell. And now that he's not being controlled Jonathan has no use for him."

 **Author's Note: Hello, everyone! Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! As of now I have finished writing** _ **She's my Parabatai.**_ **It's been nearly a year long journey and I'm very excited for you all to see what's in store for you in the last several chapters of the story! Don't worry, you've still got about ten chapters left. And after that? I've decided to write a sequel! More info will be on that in the notes in the final chapter but until then enjoy the rest of the story!**


	30. Chapter 30

The room was silent after my revelation. I couldn't believe that I had convinced myself that Sebastian was being controlled by the warlock. It had made so much sense. I couldgf believe that the warlock had been powerful enough to reach into Sebastian's mind and pull out memories. It chilled me to think just what Damian and Jonathan now knew.

Izzy finally broke the silence. "But if Sebastian was being controlled the entire time, then the Clave can't find him guilty of his crimes. It wasn't his fault."

"It doesn't matter if he's guilty or not," I said. "Jonathan's going to kill him anyway."

"This is exactly what he wants! Jonathan wants to rattle you up, Clary!" Izzy told me. "I hate to say it but he has something else planned and it surely involves you. He wants you distracted and distraught."

"It'd make sense at least," Alec agreed. "He's trying to make it seem like he'll kill Sebastian, that you'll never see him again. But he's probably still using him as a pawn."

"Don't let Jonathan extinguish that fire inside you, Clary," my parabatai said.

"But what's it going to matter if Jonathan wants to use him as a pawn! Izzy, we're leaving to Idris in a few hours! I'm sure Jonathan will soon get tired of this game and kill him."

"Then we'll have to convince your mom to let you stay."

"How exactly are we going to do that? She doesn't listen to me."

"Then we'll make her, by telling her the truth."

Izzy's plan was borderline crazy. If my mom believed us it would be great and perhaps I could stay. However, what if she told Maryse and Robert? Then the clave would get involved and that wouldn't solve anything.

Sneaking back into the Institute was just as hard as sneaking out but somehow we did it without any conflicts. Everyone was still asleep.

Izzy convinced me to try and get a couple hours of sleep. No one would be up until then anyhow. But as I laid in my bed sleep wouldn't come. I was too nervous about talking to my mother, too nervous about Sebastian's fate.

So I went and did the one thing that usually calmed me down, that let me think straight; I went into the training room.

After a while I heard the floorboards creak near the door. I sighed knowing who it was. I wasn't exactly sure how he had gotten out of bed though. "Jace, I'm not in the mood."

"Probably a good thing I'm not Jace then." I turned my head and recognized one of the Ascended. I couldn't place his name, however. Avery or Abram Asher or something like that. He saw me drawing a blank stare. "Ashton," he said. Well my last guess had been close. "Ashton Nighthallow."

"Sorry, Ashton," I apologized. I had been here for a while now and I still didn't know everybody's name. "I'm Cl-"

"Clary," Ashton finished. "Yeah I know, you're the first new face we've had around here in a while. But don't worry about not knowing me. I kinda blend into the background. Besides, you've had a lot going on. I'm honestly in awe though, in light of everything here you are still training."

"I'm a shadowhunter," I said simply. "It's in my blood." I glanced at him. "It's in your blood now too."

"Yeah, well, I've only been a shadowhunter for about a year now," he explained. "Kinda hard getting used to it."

There was suddenly a crash in the hallway and then a groan. Ashton and I looked at each other before running out of the room.

I sighed as I saw who was lying on the floor in the hallway. None other than Jace Herondale.

"Jace, what the hell are you doing?" I questioned as I knelt down besides him. He wasn't supposed to get out of bed yet.

"Hanging out on the floor," he said sarcastically. "I mean this isn't a normal thing?" He attempted to get up but his leg buckled behind him.

I could barely contain my laughter. He was the "great" Jace Herondale lying crippled on the floor.

"Okay, I may need a little help," he admitted.

I glanced back behind me at Ashton. He nodded. The two of us got Jace back onto to his feet and helped him to his room.

"You know, Alec is going to kill you," I told him as we let him fall gently onto his bed.

"Not if he doesn't find out," Jace hoped.

"What were you even doing out of bed anyway?" I shouldn't have had to ask. He was Jace Herondale. He broke rules for fun.

Jace glanced at the other boy. "Ashton, can I talk to Clary alone?" Ashton glanced between us before nodding and leaving the room. "I wanted to see if you were okay. Alec told me what happened."

"I'm fine," I told him. It wasn't a lie. Training had cleared my thoughts. Now I needed to convince my mom to let me stay. After that I'd figure out how to get Sebastian back.

"I-I wanted to say I'm sorry." Was I hearing right? Was Jace Herondale apologizing? "I've been talking bad about Sebastian this entire time. Nothing was his fault."

"You didn't know," I found myself saying. Why was I defending him? I had been so mad at him this entire time. "Honestly even I had my doubts at times."

"But I should have trusted you," Jace went on. "You know him better than any of us. I should have trusted your judgment."

I couldn't say that I was upset with Jace apologizing but it was just a little weird.

I glanced at his clock. "Thanks Jace, really. But I need to go talk to my mom."

"Oh yeah Alec told me. Want my help? I'm very persuasive?" Jace offered.

"No, I think this is something I need to do alone."

Or half alone it would seem. I woke Izzy up to bring her with me. She was my parabatai after all, my second half. This move affects her too.

She frowned when she saw me in my training gear knowing that I hadn't been sleeping. I assured her that I was fine, that training a little was just what I needed.

We found my mom in her room, packing up her stuff. She had only brought one suitcase and I found myself wondering how long she had originally thought she would be staying for.

"Oh girls," my mom looked up as we walked into the room. "Are you all packed? Magnus is coming in a couple hours to open the portal."

"Mom we need to talk to you-"

"Oh no, there is no way you are getting out of this Clary. I suggest you go pack. We're on a schedule."

"Jocelyn, please, it's important," Izzy spoke up. My mom looked between the two of us before sighing. "You might want to sit down."

So the two of us explained everything that had happened over the past several weeks, what had really happened, not the cookie cutter story we had told before. I started with Sebastian being controlled by the warlock. I didn't want my mom to have a heart attack when I told her about Sebastian telling me that he had contracted Jonathan to kill our father. Even though I now knew that wasn't true. Jonathan had had his own reasons for wanting my father dead and I knew Sebastian had nothing to do with it.

"Jonathan still has Sebastian. We don't know what his endgame is except he's planning something big. We need to find him and stop him at all costs," I finished.

"I'm going to tell Maryse. The Clave needs to know-"

"Mom, no!" I said. "The Clave can't know. They'll kill Sebastian and you know it." It was a fact that I had been mulling over. There was a chance they would believe us and let Sebastian live. But the other option was to try him with the Mortal Sword. He wouldn't be able to lie. If they asked him about the things he had done...well mind controlled or not he had still done them. Someone would need to be punished for the crimes he had committed. Sebastian would be punished.

My mom looked torn. Torn between her duty as a member of the Clave and torn between her love for her son.

"There's also the fact of the matter that we don't know who we can trust," Izzy pointed out. Here we were. Back to this again. But it was true. If Sebastian was being controlled, who's to say others couldn't be? Who's to say who's really just working with Jonathan?

"Izzy and I need to stay here," I told my mother. "We have to fight Jonathan. We have to stop whatever he's planning. We have to get Sebastian back."

My mom was silent for a long time before she sighed. "Fine, you can stay. But I don't want you kids to do anything without me."

Izzy and I nodded. "Okay." I was glad my mom was in on this, not just because she was my mother but because she was a more experienced shadowhunter. We could use her.

"I'll talk to Maryse about lifting your house confinement. You can't solve anything if you're locked here in the Institute."

"Mom? What are we going to do when we stop Jonathan?" My solution had been to turn him into the Clave. But considering how much Sebastian was now involved that wasn't an option. As much as I hated the guy...I wasn't sure if I could kill him.

"Oh don't worry about that, honey. When we stop him I'm going to kill that son of a bitch for murdering my husband and nearly killing both my children."

 **Author's Note: And here's chapter 30! When I started this thing I never would have thought I'd write up thirty plus chapters of this but here we are! I want to take the time to thank you all for 18k views on here! That's just amazing and I love you all for reading and following and reviewing 3**


	31. Chapter 31

My mom kept her promise and talked to Maryse. The head of the institute reluctantly released us from house arrest but told us if we went anywhere near those bars again we would not see the light of day for a month.

Even without me, my mother still had to leave. She had business with the Idris Ascended to attend to. She told me she would be back soon and to send her a fire message if anything happened.

Magnus came and went but not before speaking to the four of us about what our next move was going to be. Jonathan and Sebastian were still cloaked, he couldn't find them by spell. Whatever spell Damian had done it had lasted after his death.

"There's something else," the warlock said. He looked directly at me. "Clary, I believe I know at least part of the reason Jonathan killed your father."

My attention was fully focused on Magnus. I had longed to know this for so long all I had known was that Jonathan had done it now I was finally going to know why.

"I went to the house and checked it out. In the basement I found Damian's 'lair' as you could call it. There was another alter set up down there," Magnus explained. "I found blood. Your father's blood, Clary. I believe that Damian needed the blood of your father to control Sebastian and coincidentally you."

The only reason my father had been murdered was so that Jonathan could get some blood from him? No that couldn't be it, there had to be another reason. "Thank you, Magnus," I said. The gears were still turning in my head. Why else would Jonathan want to kill my father?

"What about the other alter? The one in the living room?" Alec questioned. "Damian did a spell right in front of us. Do you know what it was?"

Magnus shook his head. "Sadly, no. The alter was mostly destroyed in the fight it seems. You said Sebastian's blood was used? Probably a spell to do with blood magic. With Damian's death it should have been reverted but Clary you should be careful nonetheless."

I nodded as Izzy spoke. "What's going to be our next move? Jonathan's planning something big. We have to stop him before his plan goes through."

"I don't know what we can do," I told her. "We were only able to find them last time because of Sebastian." I hated to even think it but we were probably going to have to wait until Jonathan made his next move.

"This whole thing feels like a ticking time bomb," Jace said. "At any second Jonathan could unleash his plan. Time is of the essence."

"What about the downworlders?" Izzy questioned. "They may not be our biggest fans at the moment but if they knew that the 'mundane' Damian had been bringing with him was a shadowhunter wouldn't they get upset?"

"And Camille's part of the plan, causing chaos," Alec inputted. "I'm sure they'd want to stop that. Who knows what's she going to do."

Magnus looked like he was thinking. "It's really a long shot but I can try. I'll probably be able to sic them on Camille at the very least. If they go on a hunting frenzy for Camille it's likely if she's found Jonathan."

There was suddenly a knock at the door and Maryse entered. She seemed surprised to see Magnus. "I didn't realize you were still here, Magnus," she said to the warlock.

"Alexander asked me to take a look at Jace's ankle, to see if there was anything I could do," Magnus seemed to say the first thing off his head.

"And can you?"

"Rest and relaxation will heal it in time," the warlock said. "Well I really must be going. Chairman Meow misses me greatly when I'm gone."

"I'll show you out," Alec said leading Magnus out of the room past his oblivious mother.

"You three," Maryse turned her attention towards Jace, Izzy and I. "The Ascended are leaving soon. I expect you to come say your goodbyes." I had forgotten. The Ascended had completed their training. They were being shipped out to other institutes across the world. "Jace, use the crutches please."

I realized that Jace was attempting to get out of bed. Sure enough, there was a pair of crutches leaning on the wall next to his bed. Why hadn't he just used those when he came to find me this morning? I would never understand Jace Herondale.

We followed Maryse out to the foyer where the Ascended were gathered along with Robert and Max. It was good to see Max running around again. I had barely seen him since I had woken up.

The class of Ascended from the Los Angeles Insitute, the only other Institute in the world that trained Ascended, had arrived and would be shipping out from New York with the the Ascended here.

Izzy and I stayed near each other and made idle small chat with a few of the Ascended, most whom I had never met before, them being from Los Angeles

They were getting shipped out all over the world between today and tomorrow. Places like Seattle, Vancouver, Beijing, and Paris to name a few. George Lovelace was going to London apparently wanting to look more into his families roots.

I was talking to George about an ancestor of his named Jessamine when somebody said my name behind me. I turned around and realized it was Ashton. I hadn't seen him yet. "Hey Ashton," I said to him. "So where are you off to? Australia? Japan? Africa?"

Ashton shook his head. "I'm staying put here in New York." I didn't realize that was an option. "Maryse mentioned wanting at least one of us to stay. So there would be more shadowhunters in the Institute. I've never really been a big fan of travel so I asked if I could stay. Besides, I really enjoy New York."

"Well I'm glad you've decided to stay then."

Ashton smiled. "I gotta go say bye to some people, catch you around?" I nodded as he went off through the crowd.

I noticed Jace hobbling his way over to me with his crutches. "I don't like that guy."

"Jace, you don't like anybody except Alec," I told him.

"That's not true. I like you," he seemed to pause for a second. "And Izzy."

"Guys, I'm talking about guys. You always have something out for everyone."

"He was trying to hit on you, Clary," Jace told me.

"What? No he wasn't," I replied back to him and then had a thought. "Don't tell me you're jealous."

"Jealous? Please, why would I be jealous? You're seriously delusional, Clary." With that he hobbled away.

"What was that about?" Izzy asked appearing by side.

"Jace was jealous because he thought Ashton was hitting on me." I shrugged.

"Oh, well I mean he's right. Ashton was totally trying to hit on you," Izzy giggled. "He might wanna be careful though. Even with Jace handicapped at the moment Ashton probably wouldn't be a match for him."

"Come on, Izzy, he was not."

"Was to," she giggled again as she floated off through the crowd.

Max suddenly appeared in front of me. "Clary, come with me."

I blinked as I followed the little boy. What did Max want with me? He had never paid me much attention before.

I followed the smallest Lightwood to his room. He walked over to his bedside table where a book was sitting. I realized it was the book Sebastian had given him. He retrieved a note from the book and handed it to me.

It had my name and a list of addresses. "Max? What is this?"

"Sebastian gave me that," he said as he set the book back down. "And then he pushed me down the stairs."

"Wait what?" I stared at Max unable to comprehend what he just said.

"Sebastian was here. I found him in my room with his book. I thought he wanted it back but he just told me to look at page 200," Max explained. "And then he said he had to go and started leaving. I tried to stop him because I didn't want him to leave. But then he suddenly looked scary and pushed me down the stairs."

"Max-" I couldn't believe it. "Don't tell your parents, please." I couldn't let them know about Sebastian.

"My dad didn't believe me. I tried to tell him but he told me it was a nightmare," Max said. "I guess Sebastian wanted you to have that. Whatever it is."

"Max...thank you," I said to him as I ran out of the room. This list...it proved what I had been beginning to suspect. Damian hadn't had total control over Sebastian. Every time he escaped he had tried to help us. And this list was going to help us find and rescue him.

 **Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Thanks so much for getting this story to** **19.8k! I'll have another chapter up soon!**


	32. Chapter 32

"Izzy-" I pulled my parabatai out of the crowd as I returned to the room.

"Where have you've been? I've been looking for you," she said as I led her away from the room and into the empty kitchen. I glanced out the door, making sure the coast was clear, before handing her the paper. "What's this? Wait, isn't that the address Sebastian gave you? Clary, what's the rest of this list?"

"Max gave it to me," I told her. "He told me Sebastian gave him the list..." I hesitated. I wasn't sure how she would react when she knew Sebastian had hurt Max. Even though my brother was being controlled against his will...Max was her baby brother.

"When did Sebastian give him this? Just now?"

I sighed as I shook my head. "Awhile ago...the day he fell down the stairs. Max said that Sebastian gave it to him and then changed. H-he pushed Max down the stairs."

Izzy looked more horrified then angry. "So you mean to say that Max's fall wasn't an accident? Sebastian pushed him?"

"It wasn't him Izzy, it was Damian," I told her. I couldn't have her hating my brother. We still had to save him.

"I know." She leaned against the counter. "I'm just...I'm going to imagine Sebastian not Damian when I think about this." She waved her hand at me. "Go on, you look like you want to say something else."

"Max said Sebastian told him to give this to me. I guess he forgot with everything going on but if these addresses are what I think they are then we have a real chance of finding Sebastian," I said.

"You're thinking the addresses have to be Jonathan's hideouts?" My parabatai asked and I nodded in reply. "Then we should check them out. I can give the list to Simon. It'd be easiest for his vampires."

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed. Izzy nodded and wandered off to call Simon leaving me alone in the kitchen.

I was going to return to the farewell party when Jace hobbled into the kitchen.

"Oh! There you are, Clary," he said as he saw me. "Thought you were off with Ash doing the dirty or something."

"Jace, not now," I told him. "There's no time for you to be a jealous prat." Before he could argue I kept talking. "Long story short I have a list of addresses that Sebastian left and Izzy's calling Simon to have the vampires check them out."

"Where did the addresses come from?" Jace asked.

"That's the long story part-" I cut myself off as Izzy walked back into the room.

"Simon's going to have his vampires check the places out when it gets dark. I told him we'd tackle a couple during the daytime," Izzy told both of us. She wrote down an address on a slip of paper and handed it to Jace. "Find Alec, give him the address. Maybe he can go with Magnus or something."

Jace looked like he wanted to complain. I'm sure he'd had liked nothing more than to check out the place himself but in his current situation that was impossible.

"Jace don't go acting like the hero or anything," I told him before he opened his mouth. "It's just a reconnaissance mission. You can sit this one out." As much as I knew Maryse would kill us if we let Jace come along I had to admit I was a bit worried about him. I didn't want him getting hurt again. We needed him at top strength to fight the coming war.

After the Ascended bid their farewell the four of us snuck out of the Institute. Even though Maryse had lifted our restriction on leaving we still didn't want to run into her and explain where we were going.

I hopped into the passenger seat as Izzy started the engine. She glanced over at me. "Sure you don't wanna drive?"

"No," I told her point blank. Last time hadn't turned out so great. She laughed before pulling away from the curb.

When we reached our destination Izzy slowed to a stop outside.

"This can't be right," I said as I looked at the address sheet again. Izzy peered at it as well.

"It's right," she told me and turned off the engine.

I shoved the paper into my pocket before hopping out of the car. We were standing in front of a clothing store, a normal mundane one from the looks of it.

I held out my wrist to Izzy as she pulled out her stele to draw a glamour rune on me. When she was finished I did the same on her wrist before we entered the store.

The store was practically empty. There was a group of giggling high school girls and a lone woman shopping but that was it.

I motioned towards the back of the store where there was an 'Employees Only' sign on one of the doors. My parabatai nodded and the two of us quietly made our way over.

"Can I help you?" A voice said just as I was about to open the door.

As I turned to face the voice I found that it belonged to a mundane. She had a name tag that said 'Thalia.' I hadn't noticed her before when we first walked in. But moreover how could she see us? The glamour time was still active unless...

"We were looking for the bathroom," Izzy blurted out.

Thalia pointed at the other door. "It's for customers only so if you're going to use it you better buy something."

"Thanks," I said and was about to turn away towards the bathroom when Thalia spoke again.

"Hey, wait a minute," she said. "Those tattoos you two have. Are you part of some club or something? They're really cool. I tried to ask that other guy I saw with them but he just blew me off."

"What other guy?"

"I don't know. He was blond I guess. He bought that jacket over there." She pointed to a jacket hanging on display on the wall.

"Izzy," I said quietly. I knew that jacket. It was the same one Jonathan had, the one with the hood. So Jonathan had been here. My parabatai nodded she recognized it as well.

"Thanks," I told Thalia before I started to make my way out of the store.

"Hey wait! What about the club or whatever?" Thalia questioned.

"Invites only!" I shouted back as we made it out the door. We hopped back in the car and I looked at Izzy. "She has the Sight."

Izzy nodded. "You think it's coincidental that Jonathan happened to shop at the one clothing store where a mundane with the Sight works?"

I shook my head. "What would he want with someone with the Sight anyway? He can't exactly make them into a Shadowhunter. He doesn't have the Cup." We looked at each other as a thought came to mind in both of our heads.

"Unless he plans on stealing the Cup," we both said.

"It makes sense," I said. "We know he's planning something big, what if this is it?"

"We gotta do something," Izzy told me. "This is something we can't protect on our own."

"No one's going to believe us if we tell them," I pointed out. "But we can send a fire message to my mom. Maybe she can find someway to keep the Cup safe or at least safer than it is."

Izzy nodded in agreement so I took out a piece of paper and scribbled my message on it before drawing the fire rune. It disintegrated in my hands.

"When we get back to the Institute I'll talk to my mom," Izzy told me. "That mundane probably needs protection. I don't know how she slipped by in the first place. We're usually able to find people with the Sight when they're children." I bit my lip, thinking. "Clary?"

"What if we bring her back with us now?" I asked. "I know there's a lot going on but if Jonathan finds out we know about her..I'm worried he might speed up his plans. Taking her now would be the safest thing for us."

Izzy nodded. "Okay." She pulled he keys out of the ignition. "What's the plan? She's not going to willingly let us kidnap her."

"That's exactly what she's going to do," I said as I hopped out of the car. My parabatai rushed after me as I entered the shop again.

"Thalia," I said as I approached the mundane with the sight. "You need to come with us, now. It's not safe."

"What are you talking about?" She set down the pile of clothes she was folding. I glanced around the shop. The group of high schoolers had since left leaving the lone woman shopping.

"You've always felt out of place haven't you?" I questioned trying to remember the one time I had went with my dad to recruit someone to become a Shadowhunter. It had been impromptu but it had turned out okay. "Seen things that aren't there? People called you crazy?"

"Crazy Thalia..." she mumbled.

"You're not crazy," I assured her. "You have a gift, the Sight."

"The what?"

"See that woman over there? She can't see us," I explained. Izzy went to stand in front of the woman. She even waved her hand in the woman's face. There was no reaction.

"Are you a ghost? Am I really going crazy?" Thalia seemed scared. I couldn't blame her.

I held out my wrist to her so she could see my runes. "See these markings? The let us become invisible to the mundane eye, among other things."

"You act as if you're not human," Thalia laughed a little.

"We're not," Izzy said as she reapproached us. "At least not fully. We're Nephilim. You'll understand later but for now we have to go."

"It's not safe...there's someone who's going to want to kill you." I wasn't exactly the truth. But I could guarantee that Jonathan would have no regard for her life.

"I don't understand I-"

"Clary, it's getting late. We don't have time for this," Izzy warned me. If Jonathan still had a watch on her I was certain he'd send vampires here the second it was dark.

I looked around the shop. Luck was on our side for once; the woman was leaving.

"Pull the car around back," I told Izzy as I pulled out a dagger.

"Clary-" her voice warned as I struck Thalia quickly in the back of the head with the hilt of the dagger. The girl crumpled to the floor. I didn't have a choice. We had to get her out of here before nightfall.

"Izzy go!" I shouted to my parabatai as I began dragging Thalia into the back room. Sure enough there was a door to the alley outside, probably for taking trash out.

The door soon opened as my parabatai rushed inside. Together we carried Thalia into the back seat before getting into the car ourselves.

"Step on it," I told Izzy as the sun began to set.

 **Author's Note: Well...I lied. Whoops. Said I was gonna upload this yesterday but then I forgot XD I'm sorry but here's the next chapter! It's looking as if I'll be posting a chapter a week (maybe more if I feel like it) until the story's complete! Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to review!**


	33. Chapter 33

"You two can't just kidnap someone because they have the Sight!" Maryse was exasperated. When we had arrived back at the Institute Izzy's parents were waiting. I had called ahead telling them we were bringing back someone with the Sight. Maryse wasn't too happy when she saw the unconscious Thalia in the back seat.

"There were vampires lurking around." I had to come up with a lie on the spot. There was no way I could tell them what Izzy and I suspected. "We were concerned for her safety and she wasn't coming quietly." At least that part was true.

Maryse sighed. "It's one thing after another with you kids." I wanted to tell her off, that we weren't kids, that we were dealing with more than she could imagine but I bit my tongue. No use getting us in any more trouble.

"Maryse," Robert finally spoke. He had been silent the entire time, sitting at the desk while his wife chewed us out. "Give them the benefit of the doubt. They thought they were doing a good thing. They could very well have saved that young girl's life."

There was suddenly a knock at the study door and Ashton entered. "Sorry, but the mundane is awake. And she's freaking out a little bit. Max is trying to calm her down."

Maryse looked at us. "We'll continue this discussion at a later date, don't think you're off the hook."

I didn't let myself relax before Ashton led both Izzy's parents from the room. "I actually didn't think about what would happen when we brought Thalia here. What are your parents going to say to her?"

"They're probably going to ask if she wants to become a shadowhunter. What else can they say? She's already seen the Institute and knows about us. And considering she has the Sight that makes her a perfect candidate to become Ascended." Izzy shrugged.

My parabatai's phone suddenly rang and she answered it. "What's up?" As she listened to what the person on the other line was saying, her eyes widened slightly. "Alec, no-Alec! You need to listen to me. Go back there right this instant and bring them back to the Institute. We have a theory and he could be in danger from Jonathan." She listened for a moment. "I'll explain everything when you get back, just go get him!" She hung up and looked at me.

"Let me guess, Alec found someone else with the Sight?"

Izzy nodded. "Other than the fact that the kid he found had the Sight he didn't think anything of it. I told him to go back and get him."

I took out the list of addresses from my pocket. "I don't think we have time to sit around and wait for it to be dark for Simon." There were so many addresses. "If Jonathan has them under surveillance then he'll know we took Thalia. It wouldn't surprise me if he made his move to snatch them all now."

"It's going to take too long for us to hit them all and I don't exactly think my mother is going to let us leave."

"Call Alec back. Maybe Magnus can do a spell or something to protect them until we get there," I told her.

Izzy nodded and dialed Alec's number on her phone. "Alec-" she cut herself off. Her hand tightened around her phone. "Shit." She looked at me. "Alec says they went back and the mundane was gone."

"Ask Magnus to do a locator spell for the rest. Alec has a copy of the list," I told her.

"Alec did you hear that? Yeah, we'll hold on for a second." She looked at me again. "Magnus is doing the spell." Her face suddenly fell. "Yeah, okay, I get it. Thanks. See you when you get home."

I already knew the spell hadn't worked. Jonathan had already gotten to them. I slammed my fist down. "That son of a bitch."

"What did I do?" Jace's voice caused me to jump. I hadn't even heard him near the room.

"Not you," I sighed. "Jonathan he...everyone on that list of addresses probably had the Sight. And he's gotten to all of them before we could." Jace was uncharacteristically silent. "Jace?"

"Just thinking," he replied. "Why would Jonathan take people with the Sight?"

"We think he's going to steal the Mortal Cup," I explained. "Create his own shadowhunters."

"That's ridiculous," he said. "You can't just steal the Mortal Cup."

"So he can murder my father, mind control Sebastian and I, but he can't steal the Cup?" I questioned. "He's planning something big, Jace. This could be it. Why else would he need mundanes?"

"Maybe he's going to feed them to his vampires." Jace shrugged. His head really wasn't in the game.

"Then why would he need mundanes with the Sight?" I asked him. "Easier to take homeless ones, no one would miss them."

"Clary," he said. "This is my gut feeling. He's not going to steal the cup."

I crossed my arms. "Well it's my gut feeling that he is."

"Okay you two, stop it," Izzy intervened. "Does it really matter what Jonathan wants the mundanes for? He's already taken them. And even if we knew for certain he wanted the Cup no one would listen to us about it."

"So we need to stop him. We need to stop whatever he's doing and get Sebastian back," I announced. "I think we were actually one step ahead of him today in finding Thalia."

"You got a plan then?" Jace asked.

"Yes, but no one's going to like it."

 **Author's Note: Er...I'm sorry? I seriously kept forgetting to update this! Anyway, thank you all for reading and still being dedicated! I know how frustrating it is when someone doesn't update so my apologies. I'll be updating this again this week to make it up to you! Thanks again for reading and don't forget to comment!**


	34. Chapter 34

As I expected there was resistance to my plan. It was risky at best but it was our only option. We no longer had any more chances to one up Jonathon. This was going to be our final strike at him, and hopefully we would win.

Izzy and I found Thalia in the library. She had since been released from the infirmary. Jace was busy explaining the plan to Alec. This entire thing revolved around Thalia. If she didn't agree to it, I didn't know what we were going to do.

I knocked softly on the arch of the doorway to alert Thalia to our presence. She looked at the two of us. "I want to start out by saying I'm sorry-"

"You literally kidnaped me," Thalia cut me off. "Knocked me out, threw me in a car and drove me halfway across the city to your secret society headquarters. Sorry is all you got?"

I opened my mouth to speak again but Izzy glanced my way. "You were in real danger, Thalia. We went about it the best way we could."

"Vampires? Don't make me laugh," she said. "I've always known that things lurk in the night, things that most people can't see. I've even thought that I was crazy for it. But I know the feeling when one of those things is around and I didn't feel that today."

"That was a necessary lie we had to tell my parents," Izzy explained and motioned for me to close the door. "What I'm about to tell you needs to be kept between us, Thalia. I know we've given you no reason to trust us but you need to understand."

I looked from Thalia to my parabatai. We had gone over this and I banking on the hope that we could trust the mundane.

"I'm presuming my parents explained to you the basics of Nephlim, shadowhunters? What we do? What the Sight exactly is?" Thalia nodded. "You were in danger from a shadowhunter named Jonathan Wayland. He murdered Clary's father, kidnapped Clary's brother, has tried to kill us all multiple times, among other things. He's a force to be reckoned with and nobody knows his next move. No one even knows he's alive, that's what makes him so dangerous. The only thing we know for certain now is that he was hunting down mundanes with the Sight like you. And after we brought you here his forces moved and took the rest of the mundanes."

"The guy who had the same tattoos as you," Thalia said. "Was that Jonathan?" Izzy nodded. "Then why did he leave me alone for so long? That was months ago."

"We don't know," Izzy said. "We don't know anything really. The only thing we do know is that by taking you here we got ahead of him. We scared him into thinking we were catching on. Whatever he's doing, I think we moved the timeline up."

"What do you want me to do? You wouldn't be telling me all this if you didn't want something from me."

I glanced at Izzy. I knew Thalia wasn't going to like this. "I presume my parents asked you if you wanted to Ascend, if you wanted to become one of us. What did you say?"

"I said I had to think about it. Then they gave me this book-" I realized there was a copy of the Codex on the table. "- and told me to see if this was something that I wanted."

"Is this something that you want?"

"Yes." I let out a sigh. That was part one of the plan. Part two involved Thalia agreeing to something that could put her life in danger.

"I don't like this plan." I looked up towards the doorway as Jace entered. He was getting stealthier with his crutches. Too bad he wouldn't need them after today.

I set the seraph blade I was cleaning down on my bed. "I don't like it either and it was all my idea," I told him. "But we have to do this. It's the only way."

"I'm coming," Jace announced.

"You can't," I told him. "You may not have to use those crutches tomorrow but you've been specifically told not to do any shadowhunter work for another few days." I was holding back. There was another reason I didn't want Jace to come, one only I and one other knew.

"Clary-"

"We'll be fine," I tried to tell him. "Jonathan may not even show up. And even if he does it'll be broad daylight. He can't bring his vampires."

"We don't know the true extent of his army, what if he has other downworlders? Other shadowhunters? You could be walking into a trap."

"What else are we supposed to do, Jace? Sit back and let Jonathan put his plan in motion? Let him kill innocents? Because his plan sure as hell isn't anything to help anyone."

"Clary, he wants to kill the Morgensterns. He wants to kill you. I can't just sit back and let you go off on this suicide mission!"

"He's had plenty of chances to kill me and hasn't yet," I told Jace. "And you can't do anything so suck it up. I'm not a precious porcelain doll that's going to break. I'm a shadowhunter, just like you. Don't act like I'm anything less."

"Clary please-"

"Jace, just go," I told him. "I need to get some sleep and you're not going to talk me out of this."

"Fine. Go get yourself murdered by Jonathan. I'll make sure your tombstone says 'Should have listened to Jace.'"

I let myself fall back onto my pillows as he hobbled down the hallway. I knew things could go horribly wrong tomorrow. But I had a plan. I had something I knew Jonathan wouldn't be able to resist. And if everything went to hell I'd use it to save Izzy and Alec at least.

 **Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Sorry these last couple of chapters have been so short! I actually didn't realize they were so short when I was writing them ^^; Please review! Thanks!**


	35. Chapter 35?

And then Clary went through with her plan to catch Jonathan. And they almost caught him. But then he turned around and killed everybody. He forced Clary to watch as he drove a dagger straight into her parabatai's heart, the life leaving her eyes.

Jonathan killed Clary, the last of the group, as she ran at him in blind rage, throwing the same dagger he had used to kill Izzy.

And then Jonathan took over the entire world.

The End.

 **I'm sorry XD but APRIL FOOLS. I had to! Hahaha...yeah. New chapter coming up tomorrow!**


	36. Chapter 35 (The Actual One)

Thalia was left in the care of Izzy, Alec and I as we left the Institute. Presumably it was so she could say goodbye to her loved ones and collect her belongings before being teleported to Idris. However that wasn't what we had in mind.

"So let me get this straight," Thalia started. "Shadowhunters hunt down and kill downworlders and demons. Yet we're going to need help from two downworlders today?"

"Not all Downworlders are bad," Alec told her. "We actually rely on many warlocks for portaling and the wards in Alicante."

"Ali what?"

"Alicante, the glass city. The Nephilim capitol in Idris," he explained. "That's where you'll be going to in order to become Ascended."

We arrived at Magnus's loft and Thalia stared as we got out of the car. "This isn't where I thought a warlock would live."

"He's the High Warlock of Brooklyn, not Harry Potter," Alec told her as he proceeded to knock on the door. As always Magnus seemed delighted to see Alec and less so for the rest of us.

As we entered Magnus handed a small vial to Izzy. "Get your vampire to drink that," he told her. "I'm done with him."

"All I'm saying is can't you magic it to smell better? It smells like pig's feet." Simon was lounging on Magnus's couch.

Magnus ignored Simon and pulled Alec to the other side of the room. Izzy had gone over to Simon leaving Thalia and I standing by the doorway.

I suddenly heard a 'meow' and looked down to see the cat brushing up against my legs. I knelt down. "Hey, Chairman Meow." The cat purred as I scratched him.

"He seems a lot friendlier than the cat back at the Institute." Thalia had knelt down to scratch Chairman Meow as well.

I let out a laugh. "You met Church then, don't feel bad. He hates everybody."

"He just kept staring at me but whenever I came near he'd hiss and run off," she explained.

"You probably remind him of someone," we heard Magnus say. "Another mundane with the Sight. Sophie Collins."

"Sophie Collins? Isn't she-" Izzy was cut off

"Now, now, we can save the Adventures of Church for another day, I think it's time for you all to leave. That potion will wear off when the sun reaches its highest point." I saw he now empty vial in Simon's hand.

As we left I noticed Magnus gripping Alec's arm and speaking to him quietly. He nodded before following us out the door.

"Oh my G-" Simon stopped talking suddenly. For a second I thought he was burning but he was just basking in the sun's rays. "I forgot what the sunlight felt like."

"Don't get used to it," Alec said. "Magnus isn't going to be able to make that concoction again."

"Yeah, yeah, the great ole warlock already gave me the spiel about the ingredients being rare and he wouldn't normally do this for a vampire but since it was you who asked and he-"

Alec cut Simon off by pushing him forward. "A certain vampire better get going if he doesn't want to burst into flames. We've only got three hours until noon."

Simon glared at Alec but then turned back to look at my Parabatai. "Be careful," he told her.

"I always am," she told him. "Don't get burned to a crisp. Sadly, I don't think even that could make you even hotter."

I saw Simon smirk before he darted off at vampire speed. Part 1 of the plan was in action.

Part 2 of the plan involved Thalia getting her belongings from her apartment. I didn't exactly know how Thalia, at sixteen, had her own apartment in NYC, but I didn't ask.

Izzy and I took turns watching for Jonathan. If what we suspected was true, that he had been watching Thalia, we were sure he wouldn't miss the chance to nab her when she was alone. Or seemingly alone. Alec was hiding closer to her apartment than Izzy and I were.

But when Thalia appeared on the side walk carrying a lone box, done packing up, I suddenly doubted my suspicions. What if Jonathan hadn't been watching? Or what if he suspected it was a trap and decided not to come?

I glanced at the sky. The sun was getting dangerously close to its highest point. We probably only had fifteen minutes left at most.

I sighed and nudged Izzy. "Let's go, he's not coming." She nodded and started the engine of the car. We pulled out of the alley we had been sitting in and rolled up next to Thalia. Alec appeared half a second later and the two hopped into the backseat.

"Is it bad if I say I'm glad he didn't show up?" Thalia asked. As much as I was glad we wouldn't have to put her in harm's way I didn't know what we were going to do now.

"Let's just get back to Institute," I told Izzy. It wasn't far away. Thalia had really been living under the Institute's nose.

My memories of the next few moments are vague. I remember us nearing the Institute, going on a narrow road. I remember thinking it was strange that no one was around. The next thing I knew we crashed into an invisible force.

The next thing I remember is crawling out of the overturned vehicle and rushing to the other side to make sure Izzy was okay. She climbed out as I got there, safe for except a few scrapes and her nose was bleeding. We had to pry the back door off its hinges so Alec and Thalia could climb out. Or I should say Alec who got out and dragged Thalia with him. She was unconscious but seemed okay.

"Izzy, what the hell did you hit?" I reached up to rub the bump that I was sure was forming on my head and saw blood as I drew my hand away.

"That would be me," a voice said and I whipped my head in his direction. "Or well, I caused your car to flip anyway." Jonathan stood feet away.

I scrambled to my feet, drawing a dagger even though my aching head was screaming not to. "It's three against one, Jonathan!" I wasn't sure what he had done to make us crash but as I glanced behind me I saw Izzy and Alec on their feet. We could take him.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" He laughed. Then, he flung his arm out towards us. With a flick of his wrist we were sent flying off our feet.

I rolled into a crouch, confused. What had he just done? Magic? But it didn't matter. Whatever he had done was probably some cheap parlor trick. It wasn't going to stop me from what I came here today to do.

"Tell us where you're keeping Sebastian!" I shouted at him. Without warning I raised my dagger and charged at him. Jonathan merely sidestepped my attack before tripping me, then kicking the dagger away.

"Tsk, fiery as always but not very smart are you, Clarissa?" Jonathan asked. I saw him fling out his hand again, throwing Izzy and Alec again with the invisible force.

"Stop it!" I cried, hating the pleading tone that was coming from my voice. Something was wrong with Izzy, I could feel it.

Jonathan dragged me to my feet with his power. "Wonders what the Sight blood can do isn't it? Drain a couple Sight holders and you'll have unimaginable power. Damian always suspected that their blood would hold some meaning, but since you murdered him I had to find someone else to finish the spell."

I was horrified. That's what he wanted the mundanes with the Sight for? To kill them?

I was suddenly released and I found it hard to stand.

Jonathan cursed. "Seems my power is diminishing, no matter. _This_ is what you're up against, Clary, still think you can win? Still think you can stop me?" He paused. "No, Jonathan Wayland is back from the dead and I will get revenge for my family. I'll see the ruin of Nephilim."

"Take me!" I blurted out. It was my last dish attempt. "Give Sebastian back, take me instead."

"Clary!" I heard Izzy shout. I tried my best to ignore her. I knew Alec would hold her back. He was the only one I had told about this part of the plan.

"That's an interesting proposition, little Morning Star, but I'll have to decline. However, bring me your blade, the match twin of Phaesphoros, and perhaps I'll reconsider." He suddenly flung his hand out again sending me flying backwards. This time I didn't land on my feet.

When I looked up I noticed Jonathan was gone. I glanced to the spot Izzy and Alec had been at to find them several feet away. Had Jonathan blown them back as well?

My blood turned to ice and I dashed to my parabatai's side. Alec was already trying with no avail to wake her up. "Izzy!" I shouted. "Izzy!" Her stomach was bleeding. She must've gotten cut during the crash. Why hadn't she said anything?

I ripped her shirt out of the way and quickly drew several healing runes. They disappeared nearly as quick and I drew them and I saw no visible change in my Parabatai.

"Call somebody!" I shouted at Alec. But he was already on the phone. I didn't care what trouble we would get in. I could feel it, she was _dying._ My runes weren't helping. I didn't know what else to do.

 **Author's Note: Haha XD That was fun yesterday wasn't it? But here's the actual chapter 35! Hope you enjoyed it! Please review letting me know what you thought, thanks!**


	37. Chapter 36

"You should I have me come with you," Jace said to me.

"So you could get thrown around helplessly by Jonathan as well? We were powerless against him." I pulled my knees tighter to my chest. My clothes smelled like blood still, mostly Izzy's. I hadn't changed yet, I hadn't wanted to leave her alone. Even when the silent brother tried to force me out I stayed, holding my parabatai's hand while he did his work; trying to give her whatever strength I could.

I was glad the Lightwoods had bought our car accident story. We _had_ been in an accident but we had just decided to omit the fact Jonathan was there and there us around like rag dolls.

"You don't know that, maybe-" he suddenly cursed.

"By the angel, Jace just let me do it. Runes hurt enough without you messing up," Alec complained. He was lying down on the bed next to Izzy, letting Jace apply healing wounds to the scrapes on his back.

"I'm almost done," the blond said. Alec sighed and I turned my attention away from them back to Izzy. She was sleeping now. The silent brother said it had been close but she'd be okay.

"I am here to transport the mundane girl to Idris," a voice said from the doorway.

I saw Alec scramble quickly into a sitting position causing Jace to accidentally draw a line down his side with his stele. "Alec!"

"M-Magnus," Alec stuttered. He was here to take Thalia to Idris. The mundane had awoken moments after we arrived at the Institute and due to the fact she had no serious injuries Maryse decided it was best she be on her way to Idris.

"Oh, is this not the entryway? I don't know how I messed that up." The warlock looked directly at Alec. "Glad to see your alive, Alexander."

He started walking away causing Alec to sprint from his bed and follow him. "Magnus, wait!" Jace and I were left alone sake for my sleeping Parabatai.

"Someone forgot to text their boyfriend that the empowered shadowhunter didn't kill him," Jace concluded. I was silent causing him to look at me. "You should go get changed, get some rest. I'll let you know if she wakes up."

"I doubt Izzy left my side when I was hurt, I'm not leaving her's," I told Jace.

He sighed. "You two are so stubborn." He stood up and left the room.

I looked down at Izzy's sleeping face. There was nothing more that I wanted than for her to wake up but perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. She wouldn't be able to stop me if I went to Jonathan.

Before I could make up my mind Jace returned and plopped a pile of something down on the table next to me. I realized it was a pile of clothes.

"Did you go through my drawers?" Was there first thing that came to mind. I sure as hell didn't want Jace Herondale seeing my intimates.

"I know you'd probably love it if I was a panty raider, no," Jace said. "Maryse just did laundry. The clothes were on your bed."

"Thank you," I said to him as he exits the room. Jace nodded in response and closed the door behind him.

I used a wet wrag to clean myself up before changing into the clean clothes. I threw my bloodied clothes in the trash before opening the door for Jace again.

"There you go, now you don't look like you've been a car accident and a battle with a psycho," Jace said.

I smiled slightly at his attempt the lighten the mood as I went to sit back next to Izzy.

"Clary," Jace said, his voice serious. "You seriously can't be considering going to Jonathan?" So Alec had told him. I admit I wasn't so sure if Alec was just going to keep that a secret.

"I'll do anything to get Sebastian back," I told Jace. "If he wanted to kill me he'd have done it already."

"Clary, that's crazy, Jonathan's a psychopath! You can't trust him." I knew this was exactly how Jace was going to react.

"I'm not going to trust him! But if I go to him with Heosphoros, he just just let Sebastian go. He's not going to kill me, maybe I can find out what his plans are and-"

Jace was suddenly standing before me. "You can't trust him, Clary. I'm not going to let you go and get yourself killed."

"You don't have any say in the matter," I informed him. The only person would could stop me was lying unconscious.

"And how would Izzy feel if she woke up to find that you traded yourself away? You're going to let your Parabatai suffer like that?"

Jace was right, Izzy would be a mess if she woke up and found out I had gone with Jonathan. But I wouldn't be able to live with myself if he killed Sebastian and I could have prevented it. I was at a crossroads and I didn't know what I was going to do.

"If Jonathan had Izzy or Alec or Max you wouldn't trade yourself in a second for them?" I saw the truth flash in his golden eyes. I knew that he would.

"That's not the point Clary-"

"Whatever decision I make will be my own, Jace. You have no say in the matter."

"Clary, why can't you understand that I ca-"

At that moment the infirmary bed creaked as Izzy shifted and she opened her eyes.

"Isabelle!" I exclaimed, relief flooding through me.

She gripped my hand. "You're not trading yourself for Sebastian," was the first thing she said. "Jace may not be able to stop you but I can." She must've heard us arguing when she was coming to.

"Okay, fine," I said. In all honesty I still didn't know what I was going to do but for now I was happy that Izzy was awake.

 **Author's Note: Hey all! Thanks for reading! As I've been saying for chapters the story is winding down but I'm not gonna tell you when the last chapter is. I want it to be a surprise XD (This obviously isn't the last one). There's 25k on this story! Holy cow! Thank you guys so much! Don't forget to review, thanks!**


	38. Chapter 37

I leaned against the wall of the Sanctuary tapping my foot impatiently. I wanted nothing more than to be back upstairs with Izzy. While my Parabatai had promised not to keel over and die in the five minutes I was gone, Jace had offered to stay by her side for me.

I checked my phone and found it had only been thirty seconds since I had last checked it. We only expected the Institute to be empty for the next hour or so, Robert and Max would be returning soon. The Head of the Institute had taken Max to go to the comic book store, something he didn't normally do. Perhaps it was because of Max's constant presence next to Izzy when she woke up. Maryse had gone with Thalia to Idris to settle her in and was expected back in the morning. Ashton was elsewhere; I hadn't seen him all day. And Alec had left to presumably see Magnus after Izzy woke up.

It was a rare occurrence we had the entire place to ourselves and we'd be using that to our advantage tonight.

After what seemed like forever, but was only a minute later, the door of the Sanctuary creaked open and in stepped Simon. I was glad to see that he wasn't even a little bit singed.

"Do you have it?" I questioned. It was a dumb question, he had texted saying he was bringing it.

Simon nodded and pulled out a small black flash drive from his pocket placing it in my hand. "Is Izzy...?"

"She's fine," I told him.

"That's what she texted, but is she really? All you Nephilim are the same, playing it off as 'fine' when you're really hurt."

"She'll be fine," I said instead. Of course, she still needed to heal. "The Silent Brother said it should heal good as new."

I saw Simon clench his fist. "I should have done something-"

"Simon, there was nothing you could do. The sun was already at its peak, you'd have burned to a crisp and I don't think Izzy would have liked that."

"I want to personally put that psycho in the ground," Simon said. "Next move you make, let me know." With that he was off with vampire speed.

I sighed turning the flash-drive over in my hand. We finally had the proof we needed.

As I made my way back up to the infirmary I grabbed Izzy's laptop on the way. As much as the Institute was technology bare, Izzy had still managed to weasel everyone into getting a cell phone and a couple computers for the place.

"What did Alec say?" I asked Jace as I entered the infirmary. I had asked him to call Alec, he should be here when we do this.

"He didn't answer." Jace shrugged. "He's probably with Magnus, I just texted him."

"How was Simon?" Izzy questioned.

"Worried," I told her. "You should call him. He didn't believe you were fine."

"I will later," she said. "Now lets see this thing."

I plugged the flash drive into the laptop and waited for it to load. Technology was still a foreign concept to me, but Izzy was teaching me.

A video popped up and as I clicked play I saw our first real piece of evidence of Jonathan Wayland. It started moments after the crash when we were dragging ourselves out of the car. It ended abruptly as Jonathan sent me flying for the final time. That was when it became noon.

"When my dad gets back we show him this," Izzy said. "Then all of the Clave can hunt for Jonathan."

"It also proves Sebastian innocence," I pointed out. "That Jonathan had kidnapped him."

"It's a win-win for us," Izzy concluded. "The clave can get Jonathan and Sebastian will be free of all punishment."

Why did it seem too easy? I couldn't help but think we were still playing into Jonathan's hands and the only way I'd get Sebastian back was if I gave up myself in return.

"Save that as many places as possible," Jace told Izzy who had taken the laptop from me. "The last thing we want is for it to get deleted." As Izzy nodded Jace's obnoxious ringtone suddenly went off. "Finally, Alec-" His face suddenly went white as he was cut off.

"Jace?" I questioned. The blond made no indication that he heard me and continued listening to the phone. I didn't know who it was but it was definitely not Alec on the other side.

Finally, he set the phone down. "Jonathan has Alec." I heard Izzy gasp. "If we show anyone that video, he'll kill him." How did...of course. Jonathan knew the entire time we were recording him. Why else would he make proclamations? "He wants Clary and I to go to him tonight. If we don't show up he'll kill Alec and Sebastian both."

I stood up. "What time?"

"Now," Jace replied.

"No!" Izzy exclaimed. "Neither of you are going! We've already seen how much of a psychopath Jonathan is. What's stopping him from killing the whole lot of you?"

"We have to go, Izzy," Jace said. "He's going to _kill_ Alec and Sebastian. I'm sorry but I'm not risking my parabatai's life."

"And neither am I! Clary, you're not going!" I could see how torn she was. She wanted us to save my brother and hers but she didn't want to lose Jace or I.

"I'm sorry, Izzy," I said and my Parabatai started to object but I had already pulled my stele out and was etching the rune into her arm. As I finished Izzy fell asleep. I doubted this was what the 'sleep now' rune was meant for but it was necessary.

I stared at Izzy for a moment. "I'll be back," I promised her. "I'm not going to die tonight. If Jonathan takes me, you'll find me, I know you will." I stepped back and looked at Jace. "Let's go."

 **Author's Note: I'm sorry, I feel like all I do in these notes is apoligize for not updating sooner. I've been really swamped with moving apartments and starting back for a new quarter at university and then midterms happened and gahhh. Anyway, here's a new chapter for you! I hope you enjoyed it! Things are winding down...Don't forget to comment! I love hearing what you have to say!**


	39. Chapter 38

I sprinted off after Jace down the sidewalk. We had passed Max and Robert on their way in but completely ignored them. We didn't have time to explain what was going on nor did Alec or Sebastian. As I was collecting my blade from my room Jace told me something else: if we weren't there in an hour they'd both be dead.

I watched Jace closely as we ran, seeing a new look upon his face. He was more determined than I had ever seen him but there was also a hint of something else I couldn't quite place my finger on.

I had a panging sense of regret for what I did to Izzy but there was nothing else I could have done. I knew she'd have kept arguing with me and there was no time for that. I knew she'd hate me for it but it had to be done.

"Here," Jace came to a sudden halt. We were in front of what looked to be an abandoned office building of some sort.

"Did Jonathan happen to tell you where inside?" I questioned. The building was huge, it'd take us much longer than an hour to search the entire thing.

"No." My heart fell. "But I trust in our bond." I realized he was talking about his Parabatai bond. "I'll always find Alec." With that he strode inside and I followed him.

He started running again and I ignored the pain in my lungs as I matched his pace. We had to find them. We didn't have time to slow down.

Jace suddenly skidded to a stop, me almost running into him. "Alec!" He banged on the door of the room opposite us. "Alec!" He pulled out his stele and drew an opening rune on the door. It didn't open. After punching and kicking the door repeatedly proved fruitless he frustratedly ran his fingers through his hair. "We have to find another way in. I know he's in there."

"Jace!" I exclaimed as I ran after him. He was acting erratic. Jonathan was so obviously leading us into a trap but if we wanted the people that we loved back we had no choice but to play along.

Around the corner we found a window facing into the room but the blinds were closed so we couldn't see inside. Jace threw a discarded chair at the window but it bounced off like it was bulletproof.

He banged on the window with his fist. "Dammit Jonathan! Let us in!"

"Jace, calm down!" I shouted at him. "Jonathan's playing a game with us. Get a cool head so we can figure it out."

Jace turned from the window and looked at me. And before I could even comprehend what he was doing he had stepped forward and was kissing me.

"Clary, I want you to know how I feel in case-"

"I'm not dying here today, and neither are you," I told him. "Tell me later." Without waiting for him to respond I started walking back towards the door to the room. I couldn't let him tell me right now. I wasn't so sure I'd be able to focus on the task at hand if I let him.

I stared at the door as I stopped in front of it. There had to be some way inside. I had thought of the air vents but they were too small for even me to fit not to mention Jace.

"Maybe we can both ram it together," Jace suggested.

"I don't think brute strength is going to open that door," I told him.

"Then how about..." Jace's voice faded as I stared at the door. Something suddenly sprang to mind in my head and before I knew what I was doing I had my stele out and I was etching a rune on the door.

I stepped back as the rune activated, as if I knew what was coming, and the door blew apart. Once the dust settled I saw a body lying bleeding in the center of the room.

I threw caution and reason to the wind as I ran towards the body realizing it was Sebastian, terrified. But then I saw him shift slightly and I knew he was at least alive.

Then, suddenly, a force was holding me in place and something sharp nearly piercing my neck. "Move a muscle and I'll rip out your pretty little throat." Camille. I'd know that voice anywhere.

There were multiple slow claps coming from the other side of the room. I was lucky my Nyx rune allowed me to see the figure. Jonathan.

"You impressed me, Clary," he said.

I took this opportunity to gaze around the room. Jace was standing off the side and as I followed his gaze I found a downworlder holding a knife to Alec's throat. The blond didn't make any motion to move, fearing for his parabatai's life.

"Don't you think it's time we ended this little charade?" Jonathan snapped his fingers and the downworlder released Alec. "You kept up your end of the bargain. Your Parabatai can live." For some reason I didn't get the feeling Jonathan was talking about Jace showing up before the time limit.

Jace approached me. "I'm sorry," was all he said as he took Heosphoros from its seath.

"Jace!" I shouted. The blonde began to walk to Jonathan, handing the Wayland he blade.

"Jace, what are you doing?" Alec questioned.

"He wanted both swords, Heosphoros and Phaesphoros," Jace said as if that explained anything.

"Magnificent," Jonathan said and he swung the blade in an arch. I struggled against Camille, ignoring her previous warning. No one took my blade. I suddenly felt the fangs pierce my neck. "Camille!" The shadowhunter yelled. "Don't do that. And you can let her go. She's not going anywhere with her brother here."

I shrugged Camille's grip off of me and placed my hands to my neck. There was only a tiny bit of blood, she had barely pierced it.

For a moment I ignored how Jace was acting. "The deal was Sebastian for me. You said you'd let Sebastian go if I came."

"Is that what Jace told you?" Jonathan laughed. "The plan changed, seems as if Jace told you a lie."

I looked at the blonde. "Jace?"

When he didn't reply Jonathan kept talking. "Were you really so naïve to think that I'd let Sebastian live? I want to kill all you Morgensterns. I'm not going to stop at your monster of a father."

I had really been so naive. I had wanted to do anything at all to get my brother back. But, if Jonathan wasn't going to give Sebastian back I'd take him by force. Other than Camille and the downworlder there were only two other vampires. We could take them, Jace and I still had other weapons than my blade.

At that moment I didn't care what lies Jace had told me. He was still the best shot we had in all getting out of here alive. I sent him a knowing look but then he looked away and made no indication of moving.

A door at the back of the room that I hadn't noticed before opened and in stepped two figures. One I realized was a vampire and the second- "Mom!" I exclaimed.

"Ah! The mother has arrived! We can start this party!" Jonathan said gleefully. He looked at me. "By the way, Clary, thank you for all those helpful fire messages. You might have actually caught me off guard if I hadn't been the one receiving the messages." No...that meant that Jonathan had had my mom for days, probably since she transported to Idris.

"Clary..." my mother's voice was weak. I couldn't see any visible injuries but who knew what Jonathan had done to her.

Jonathan turned on his heels until my blade was pointing at Jace. "Which Morgenstern should I kill first? The mother, the daughter or the son?"

"Jonathan," Jace said, a warning in his voice.

The Wayland sighed. "Fine, you're no fun Jacey, you know that right?" He looked at me. "Be glad, Clary, due to Jace's undying loyalty you get to live. But I'm still going to make you watch your family die." What what he talking about? Undying loyalty?

"Clary!" I suddenly heard Sebastian cough. "It's Jace! He's the traitor!"

"Jace?" Alec said in disbelief and turned to his Parabatai.

Jonathan kicked my brother causing him to cough up blood. "Shut up! You're ruining all the fun!" He looked at Jace. "Well, the cat's out of the bag I suppose." Jace wasn't saying anything. His face was hidden under his blond locks.

Alec stalked up to Jace and shook his shoulders. "Dammit Jace! Tell me it isn't true!"

"I can't do that," Jace said in monotone. "I've been working with Jonathan the entire time."

Alec released his Parabatai and stepped back. "No..." From the look on his face I knew that everything was true. He could feel Jace's disloyalty to him.

"Oh it's all true," Jonathan laughed. "Sure this one-" he jerked the sword dangerously close to Sebastian. "-was my errand boy at times while he was under Damian's spell, but everything else was Jace."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't trust my own words. Sure, there had been a time that I thought Jace was the traitor but after everything we've been through?

"Jocelyn," Jace's voice dragged me back to the present. "Kill Jocelyn first."

"No!" I shouted.

Jonathan smiled. "Of course." He gripped Heosphoros. "Only fitting if she's killed with her daughter's blade isn't it? Almost as if you're killing your own mother isn't it, Clary?" He looked at me. "Jace can teach you a thing or two about that."

I didn't have time to dwell on Jonathan's last statement. I made a motion to sprint and grab my sword from Jonathan's hands but Jace stood in my path. "I'm sorry, Clary," he said. There was no emotion in his voice. There hadn't been since we entered the room.

I pushed at him but he stood firm and wouldn't let me past. "Jace!" I shouted desperately.

"I'm sorry, Clary," he repeated. "If either you or Alec interfere he'll kill you both."

"If you care at all for me you won't let him kill my mother!" I shouted at him. I saw something flash in Jace's eyes and I took this opportunity to knee him in the groin. He groaned and relaxed his grip on me slightly but it was enough for me to slip out.

"Alec!" I shouted drawing a dagger from inside my jacket. He caught the thrown knife and I retrieved another one for myself.

Suddenly I was tackled and the dagger flew out of my hand. As I attempted to fight back I realized my attacker was Jace. He twisted me to my feet and pinned my arms behind my back.

Jonathan sighed. "Camille."

"My pleasure." I could heard the wicked joy in her voice. In a flash she had Alec in her grasp and pierced his neck with her fangs.

"No!" Jace shouted and it was the first time since we had entered the room I had heard any emotion in his voice.

Camille tore her moth away from Alec's neck and let him slump to the floor. She wiped the blood from her mouth onto her hand which she licked. "Mmm, I can see why Magnus likes this one. He's delicious."

"I'm sure you realize by now, that pesky bond and all, that Alec's not dead, Jace," Jonathan said. "He's merely unconscious. You failed to be able to control him so I, or Camille's fangs in this instance, had to do it for you."

"Jace! You're not going to let him do that are you?" I asked him, desperately trying to reach him. "You're not going to let him hurt your Parabatai are you?"

"He's alive, Clary." His voice was back to being emotionless. "That's all I want."

"Now can we get onto the main event?" Jonathan questioned.

"No!" I shouted and struggled against Jace. "Let me go you son of a bitch!"

"I'm sorry, Clary," he said for the third time. I was beginning to think his sorry's meant nothing.

"Jacey, make sure she's watching. I want her watch as the life leaves her mother's eyes." He staked towards my mom, Heosphoros still in his hands.

"It's okay, Clary," I heard my mother say. "I love you two, you and your brother both."

"Mom." I could feel the tears welling in my eyes. I continued to struggle in Jace's grasp to no avail.

"This is all very heartwarming, but it's making me sick," Jonathan said.

An instant later he drove my sword into my mother's chest.

"No!" I screamed, the tears escaping my eyes and falling down my cheeks. My mother's body fell to the floor. "No..."

"Onto the brother, shall we?" Jonathan flicked some of the blood off my blade.

The vampire that had been holding my mother violently yanked Sebastian to his feet. He couldn't even stand on his own, he was that weak. He could barely even open his eyes.

As the tears fell off my face I had no strength any longer to fight against Jace's hold on me. I realized that there was nothing I could do. I had lost.

I watched as Jonathan swung the blade towards Sebastian.

Then, the windows exploded. Suddenly Jonathan cried out and the blade clattered to the floor. He was holding his neck and when he pulled his hand away there was blood.

"You're the worst shadowhunter I've ever tasted, just saying," Simon said standing a few feet away. He spit out blood from his mouth as if to prove his point. "I suggest you let Clary go, pretty boy, otherwise I'll compare your friend's blood with yours."

I suddenly realized that Simon had brought the Calvary. There were dozens of vampires in the room. Izzy must've woken up and told Simon what we were going to do. I wasn't sure how he found us but I was glad. Camille had fled but the other vampire and downworlder were restrained.

"This isn't over," Jonathan laughed manically. "This is only the beginning."

Jace pushed me forward so suddenly that I couldn't catch myself and would have fallen on my face if Simon hadn't caught me. He sprinted towards Jonathan and as their hands clasped both blonds were gone.

Simon scratched his head. "Huh, who knew shadowhunters could teleport."

I dashed over to Sebastian and knelt before him. "Sebastian!" I shouted not even knowing where to start. He was completely covered in blood. But, he was breathing and he had a pulse. He was alive.

I dared myself to look towards my mother's body and found it covered with a sheet. One of Simon's vampires must've done that. It was a good thing. I didn't know if I'd be able to stomach seeing her like that again.

"Izzy told her parents everything," Simon told me. "They should be arriving shortly."

"Can you...?" I motioned towards Sebastian. Simon nodded and put two vampires on the job to carry Sebastian downstairs. "How'd you find us?" I asked Simon as I stood up.

"One of the vampires saw you and Jace running down the streets earlier," Simon said. "Speaking of Jace..."

"Don't," a voice said curtly. I realized it was Alec; he had woken up. I knew Alec was hurt by this more than anyone. His parabatai, his best friend, his confidant, his _brother_ , had just betrayed us all. I couldn't imagine what that felt like.

There were no further words spoken as we made our way outside the massive office building. Sure enough an Institute van was just pulling up on the curb outside. The back door slid open to reveal Izzy in one of the seats.

"Clary-" she started to say but I was already hugging her before she could say anything else. No matter what I had done tonight to her we were still parabatai and I could feel that all that mattered was that I was alive.

"Alec!" I heard Robert shout. He reached out to touch the wound on Alec's neck, to observe it but Alec slapped his hand away.

"I'm fine," he said. "It's just a bite. Sebastian's the one who needs help." The vampires had just finished gingerly carrying my brother out of the building.

"Right, get him in the back," Robert instructed. The far back of the van was already prepped and ready to go for Sebastian.

As they were loading my brother into the van Izzy looked around. "Where's Jace?"

"He's dead to us," Alec said.

 **Author's Note: :)**


	40. Epilogue

When I woke up the next morning it was almost as if nothing had changed. In my half-asleep daze I hadn't put together everything yet. And then, all of a sudden, it felt like my heart was caving in. My mother was dead, Jace had betrayed us, and I wasn't sure if Izzy would ever forgive me.

Initially I thought that what I had done was forgiven. Izzy was so relieved to see that I was okay and that had cascaded the fact that I had forcibly put her to sleep so I could go and almost get myself killed.  
But in our silence as we waited to see how extensive Sebastian's injuries were I could feel her emotions as if they radiated off of her. I had lost her trust. For parabatai trust was everything; it almost felt as if I had lost Izzy all together. I wasn't sure I was ever going to get her back.

It was to my great relief that Sebastian would be okay so to say. Brother Jeremiah said it'd take many days for him to recover physically but he warned me that he might never recover emotionally. Having Damian control his mind for so long had damaged it, to what extent the Silent Brother didn't know.

The Clave was finally doing something about Jonathan. The video of him was being broadcast to all Institutes across the world; we didn't know where he would show up next. Perhaps Jace had tried to help us a bit in the end by telling Izzy to back up the video. As we were not able to find the flash drive once I got back.

I didn't know what to trust about Jace. In the moment it felt like everything he had ever said was a lie but was that really the case? Had he given us clues along the way, like with the flash drive, but I had been too stupid to realize them?

In all honesty, I had no idea how Alec was coping. I rarely saw him; he always spent his time away from the Institute. Whatever problems Izzy and I were having they were nothing compared to Alec and Jace's. The day after Jace had gone with Jonathan I saw Alec pouring over a book in the library. I hadn't seen the entry he was reading but I could tell it was a book about breaking permanent runes.

The three of us, minus Sebastian who was still recovering, were questioned by the Inquisitor and Consul multiple times and and by the Mortal Sword. Sebastian's innocence would be proven once he could be questioned with the Sword to prove that he was indeed always being controlled.

Jonathan and Jace had been quiet for weeks. No one had heard so much as a peep from them, or even Camille. Simon had said it seemed as if she and her vampires just vanished.

Then, the massacre happened.

In the dead of night all the shadowhunters in half the Institutes around the globe were killed. Los Angeles, Vancouver, Beijing, Istanbul, London, Cairo, Tokyo, etc. All the institutes where the Ascended had been sent. And on the wall of the Institutes: _We Ascend to serve Jonathan Wayland, savior of Nephilim kind_. It was written in the victims' blood.

The Ascended disappeared without a trace, just as Jonathan had weeks before. No one knew when or how Jonathan had gotten to the Ascended or how he corrupted them.

The same night a group of vampires went on a rampage in New York City. Camille had returned and the streets turned red with blood. We shadowhunters were too engrossed with our own problems that we didn't have time to deal with them.

The night when hundreds were murdered I received a chilling fire message:

 _Hoc est solum initium est_  
 _This is only the beginning,_  
 _little Morning Star_

 **END**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: And...that's it! Thank you all wonderful people who have been reading along with this wrong and commenting and voting; it really means a lot to me! It's been a long and wild ride and it's a bittersweet feeling that it's done. But that brings me to my next announcement, or** _ **two**_ **announcements: there WILL be a sequel. Want a tease? The title will be called She's Was My Parabatai. In should be up sometime in the coming month. The other announcement? I am writing another story, a shorter one, in this universe I've created. It's a bit of a secret so I won't say anymore.**

 **Once again, thank you all for reading this story! I don't think I would have ever finished it if I didn't have dedicated readers like you! Till next time ~Jkalime**


	41. Sequel Announcement

Hello everyone! This sequel to this story, She Was My Parabatai, has been posted! I'd love if you guys could check that out if you loved this story! Thanks! Check out my profile for the story once it updates because for some reason it won't let me post the link! If you have trouble finding the story it's already up on Wattpad as well you can check it out on there, same username, Jkalime. Happy reading!


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